


Take My Hand

by justalongthemirroroferised



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Anthology, Awkward Ben Solo, Awkward Romance, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Sex, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Force Ghost Ben Solo, Gentle Kissing, Morally Gray Jedi, Mutual Pining, Post ROS, Post-Canon, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey Skywalker, Reylo - Freeform, Sentinel Rey, Soft Ben Solo, Star Wars Spoilers, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, lonely rey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:48:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21945358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justalongthemirroroferised/pseuds/justalongthemirroroferised
Summary: [HIATUS]Ben Solo and Rey from Jakku.  Two halves of the same soul, and a bond forged in a moment of desperate longing.  Rey fled from Kylo Ren's every advance, he chased her, and they fought bitterly at every opportunity, leaving nothing but chaos in the wake of their passionate confrontations.  Little by little, their hearts began to open, leaving them reeling, sure only of their budding feelings for one another.  They were ripped apart by the machinations of the Dark side's puppets, but death was only the beginning for them; the Force had other plans for their dyad.  Kyber was the key to reuniting them; the touch of it was life itself.  Armed with the Force and Ben's steady presence at her side, Rey vowed to bring back the man she loved, no matter what the universe threw at them.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 70





	1. Death is Only the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, why did it take me this long to jump on the Reylo train? Sheesh, I didn't even know I shipped them until ROS, to be completely honest. So now I'm jumping in with both feet! As always, thank you for reading! All my love. :) xx

Rey let out a long breath, centering herself within the Force. She sat quietly, smiling gently as she felt the tiny tendrils of a new vine twine slowly around her index finger where her hand lay on the ground. Rey would never get used to being surrounded by green; it was still a novelty to see so many flora. Every plant practically sang with energy and the moisture in the air revitalized her in a way that she had learned to crave. Even the spectacular colours of a Jakku dawn couldn’t compare to the serenity of Ajan Kloss. Rey had learned to seek balance, and she was only truly content when she was able to quiet her thoughts and focus on honing her understanding of the Force. 

Not for the first time, she thanked Luke and Leia for their guidance. The Dark still called to her in her loneliest moments, but she knew that her choice had been made; Rey was at peace. 

She tilted her head back, basking in the dappled sunlight that tricked through the forest canopy above her. A gentle breeze, scented with solas blossoms and the musty odor of damp moss swirled through her clothes, blowing tendrils of her hair into her face. Impatiently, she brushed them away, more than a little bit annoyed by their presence. The interruption pulled her mercilessly from her meditative state, and she impatiently brushed dirt from her trousers as she rose to her feet. 

Rey let out a long breath as a huff, debating whether or not she was finished training for the day. 

Her gaze slid over her staff, which lay propped against a nearby tree. Rey considered training with it for a few moments before she caught herself smothering a yawn. She decided against it and palmed the staff instead. She was in the midst of strapping it on when she suddenly felt a tingling between her shoulder blades that she couldn’t ignore. The Force pulsed powerfully within her, and she bit back a flash of worry. She knew that she wasn’t alone.

Every inch of her body was alert, even the hair on her arms was standing at attention. Rey didn’t like it one bit. Her survival instincts flared to life: something was off. 

_Someone is watching me._

She’d come to Ajan Kloss to train by herself. Poe, Finn, and Rose were scattered to three different planets as they endeavored to rebuild the Republic. Chewie, on the other hand, had left for Tatooine to track down some old friends who owed Han money; he wanted to fully repair the Millennium Falcon’s compressor unit. Rey knew that the Rebel base that was only a few miles from her training spot was still occupied, but the strange new presence didn’t feel like any of the people that she’d encountered.

A new thought occurred to her; the newcomer felt like something strangely familiar. 

_It can’t be. He’s been gone for too long._

Her hand tensed at her hip, and when the feeling didn’t dissipate after a long ten seconds, Rey gave into instinct and settled into the offensive. 

In one smooth movement, she unsheathed her lightsaber and ignited the blade, swinging the buzzing weapon into a defensive stance as she pivoted to face whatever was watching her. The golden glow of the blade lit up her face, carving her features into sharp angles and deeply shadowed valleys. 

As she turned, it became blindingly obvious who it was. Now that she was fully tuned into the Force once more, all doubt was entirely forgotten. 

She nearly dropped the lightsaber as she caught sight of Ben. He strode powerfully towards her, his slightly translucent form solidifying with every step that he took. He didn’t make a sound as he moved through the undergrowth; the Force sang through Rey as their bond reacted to his presence. Her heart felt like it was about to burst. 

She couldn’t do anything but stare at him. Her arm dropped to her side, and she only had enough forethought to angle her still-buzzing blade away from her thigh. 

The shining aura of his Force ghost bathed Ben in a bright, blue glow, but even in death, the simmering heat in his gaze sent a bolt of heat straight through her. Her knees suddenly felt weak, and her heart beat so powerfully against her ribs that she thought it might jump straight out of her chest. 

_He’s really here._

Her shocked intake of breath was enough to make the corner of his mouth tick up in a small, sheepish smile. 

“Rey,” he greeted her quietly. 

She could do nothing but stare at him for a few long moments. Her greedy gaze inspected every inch of his face, noting with relief that for the first time, he looked well. The dark circles under his eyes were no longer so prevalent, and his ancient eyes no longer bore the weight of his internal conflict. 

She was loath to admit it, but he looked happy. The prickling of tears behind her eyes made her bite her lip; Rey was torn between wanting to chastise him for taking so long to reveal himself and telling him how much she’d missed him. 

It had been nearly a year since his death, and she still found herself weeping in the middle of the night. Unexpectedly, a rush of anger swept through her veins, and she decided to keep her mouth shut until her brain stopped spinning. When he didn’t say anything, she couldn’t help the words that poured out of her mouth. 

“Three hundred and forty-nine days, Ben,” Rey said roughly, hating the way that her voice suddenly sounded so small. “That’s how long you’ve been gone. I searched for you-“

“Rey-“

What he said next stopped her thoughts in their tracks. 

“I should have come sooner,” Ben murmured, stepping closer to her. She could do nothing but watch, rooted firmly to the spot as he took another step towards her. 

Rey wanted to say something, anything, but her words dried up in her throat. She settled for quickly looking away and deactivating her weapon. She made her hands busy for a moment, clipping the weapon back to her hip. Ben didn’t say anything, but Rey didn’t need him to voice his thoughts; she understood him better than she understood her own mind. He took another step towards her. 

“I thought that you were gone,” she finally said thickly, slowly raising her gaze to meet his. “You were the only person that I couldn’t reach. Master Luke, and Leia, they’re always here when I need them, but you-”

“I tried to appear to you,” Ben began, taking yet another small step towards her. His hand hesitantly reached out towards her in an all-too familiar way, and she couldn’t hold back the tears that streamed silently down her cheeks. “I had to see you.”

“I should have felt your presence,” she murmured, frantically wiping her tears away. “I thought I could feel you in the Force, but I couldn’t find you. It was like trying to catch smoke with my hands. I almost gave up-”

“It took time to become one with the Light again,” he admitted, watching her with his characteristic intensity. “I had to come back to you.”

“Why did you come back?” Rey demanded, fighting to keep her deep-rooted feelings of abandonment and betrayal at bay. Deep down, she knew why he'd returned, but something inside her wanted to hear him say it out loud. 

Just enough time had passed that she’d finally come to terms with his absence, but now that he’d appeared to her, she was an emotional wreck. She hated that anger was the emotion that consumed her; she fought for calm.

Ben always knew when she was conflicted. The look in his eye was so earnest and unsure that she felt her anger dissipate almost immediately. What was left was the aching loneliness that she’d ignored for so long. Seeing him made it impossible to think rationally; that was how it had always been with him, if she was being honest with herself. 

“You know why,” he said evenly, looking at her so intensely that she felt as if her skin was burning. “Did you think that death could destroy our bond?”

Every emotion that she’d repressed rose to the surface, and she felt like she was barely treading water. He must have seen the rioting emotions in her gaze; the pain that flickered over his eyes told her all that she needed to know. 

_I wasn’t wrong._

“I was with you, Rey,” Ben murmured softly, finally stopping a hands breadth from her. “I was watching you the whole time-“

He cut off as her unimpressed gaze snapped onto him. “So you just watched me for a year.”

Her expression betrayed absolutely nothing of the tiny, insistent bubble of giddiness that bloomed inside her chest. Rey was grateful that she didn’t have to say a word; Ben had seen everything. Even without their bond, he knew her heart and her mind.

_He knows how I feel about him. He knows that I grieved; he watched me count the days after he died._

She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she loved him, but that absolutely did not mean that she was ready to spit out the words. 

Ben knew that about her, he always knew what she was thinking before she did. A tiny part of her wanted to laugh as Ben struggled to come up with a response. She thawed immediately as he avoided her gaze. 

Rey couldn’t keep a small smile from ghosting around the corners of her mouth as he finally muttered something under his breath.

“What was that?” Rey demanded, only partially serious as his bashful gaze avoided hers. 

“I _said_ , that if I could have, I would have shown myself,” he repeated, his expression softening as a tiny laugh escaped her. His expression flickered between annoyance, mirth, and affection, until he settled on moderately amused. “Rey, I-“

“I know,” she said quietly. “I’m glad that you’re here.”

“You can’t get rid of me,” he said simply, "Nothing can keep us apart."

Rey’s heart stuttered against her ribs again, and she couldn’t help the trickle of joy that wove through her veins. 

Rey took a step closer to Ben. Her hands reached out towards him, stopping just short of the blue mist that shimmered over his skin. “Do you miss it…?”

The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Being alive? I’m not really dead, you know that.”

“I wish we’d had more time,” Rey replied softly. Another silent tear slid down her cheek. “Seeing you like this, I should have gone to you sooner, maybe I could have helped you turn before it was too-“

“It wasn’t too late, I would do it again,” he interrupted her, closing the distance between them. He reached up to cradle her face, but right before he touched her, he hesitated and dropped his hand. Pain and frustration flickered across his expression, but he didn’t explain why he’d stopped in his tracks. Her eyes widened. 

“Ben-“

“It doesn’t matter. We’re linked, death can’t separate us,” Ben said lowly. Even though he wasn’t touching her, Rey shivered. His voice rumbled through her, igniting a heat that she hadn't felt since his lifeless body had vanished from her arms. Even the warmth of the Light side of the Force hadn't been enough to ease the pain of losing him. 

“You should have let me die, you should have lived,” Rey murmured brokenly, reaching out towards him. Her shoulders shook at the realization that his form was intangible; she couldn’t touch him. “You are the last Skywalker-“

"I'm not," he countered immediately. Rey's eyes widened as she realized that he knew that she'd taken on the name. For once, she didn't have anything to say, so she just met his steady gaze. 

They stared at each other for a moment. Finally, just as she was about to awkwardly break the silence, Ben ran a hand through his hair and grinned crookedly at her. 

“You took the name Skywalker,” Ben said drily, his dark eyes glittered with amusement. The mirth in his gaze was so unexpected that she lost her train of thought. 

“I…did,” she said slowly, “Master Luke and Leia trained me, so it felt right to continue their legacy. Does that bother you?" 

“You would have ended up with that name eventually,” he rumbled, leaning down to whisper in her ear. 

Rey flushed, tearing her flustered gaze away from the searing heat in his eye. “You’re changing the subject."

“Am I?”

She rolled her eyes. Turning on her heel, Rey put some much-needed distance between them, desperate for a chance to hide her brightly flushed cheeks. 

“I’m going back to camp.”

Without thinking, she reached out behind her. 

He was silent for a moment, and she finally looked back over her shoulder at him. He was grinning, leaning his shoulder against a nearby tree. Rey couldn’t help the tiny smile that spread over her mouth at the sight. 

“What’s so funny?”

He straightened, striding towards her with lithe grace. She couldn’t help tracing every inch of him with her gaze, which appeared to amuse him even further. “This is when you’d normally tell me to leave.”

Rey had to tilt her head back slightly to look him in the eye; she’d nearly forgotten how tall he was. “I wanted Kylo Ren to leave me alone. I’ve never told you to go away.”

His eyes widened. 

Without another word, she started off into the forest. He kept up with ease, watching her with so much open affection in his gaze that she couldn’t stand to look at him. 

“Ben,” she said warningly, trying her hardest to ignore the way that her palms were sweating. “Stop looking at me like that.”

He chuckled. Rey refused to look at him, but she couldn’t suppress the smile that curled over her lips. She squared her shoulders and doubled her pace. A delightful trickle of joy twisted through every inch of her body. 

"I've never heard you laugh before," she whispered. 

As it turned out, death was just the beginning. 


	2. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben make a startling discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay, I'm flabbergasted- thank you so much for the support thus far. I've played a little fast and loose with the lore, but it's Star Wars, y'know? Hopefully I've kept at least enough of what's been explained in the less obscure books etc...to make it plausible. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter, I broke my own darn heart writing this to be completely honest. :) xx

Rey’s efforts to eliminate any remaining pockets of Final Order supporters often took her to the most remote edges of the galaxy. 

The hum of a swinging lightsaber always ignited a storm of adrenaline in Rey’s veins. She spun in an effortless pirouette, gritting her teeth with ferocity as her blade made contact with her opponent. He fell without making a sound as he died; his body hit the ground with a dull thud. She was moving past him and towards the next Final Order supporter before the first body had stopped smoking from the mortal wound inflicted by her laser saber. A second body joined the first on the frozen ground, and she ignored the bile that rose in her throat as she caught sight of the damage that she’d wrought. 

Her head snapped to the left; she had company. Rey wasn’t finished fighting yet. 

Bright beams of light from blasters shot past her, miraculously missing her as she shot towards her attackers. With a lazy flick of her wrist, she deflected the only bolt of energy that had managed to come close. Her cloaked form sped through the forest without pause. 

Her booted feet rhythmically tapped across the thin ice layer that lay on top of over two feet of snow. A loud creaking followed by a very loud crash told her that the deflection had brought down a tree. A small click marked the deactivation of her lightsaber; she didn’t need it for now. 

Rey’s heartbeat thundered in her ears. Her breath puffed out of her mouth in a cloud. The air smelled like smoke and dust; the snow here tasted like stale air. It was a fitting place for a First Order communications base; Xaxbaa was a frozen hellhole. 

She increased her pace, throwing her body up and over a fallen log in a somersault that allowed her to narrowly miss a thrown explosive. Rey stumbled slightly over the slick ice layer on the ground, relying on the Force to reduce her body weight. She darted across the surface of the snow, barely making a sound as she reignited her weapon. 

“Where are the snipers?” She demanded, darting behind a tree. She waited precisely two seconds before she swung her blade to the right, clipping a cloaked figure who strode past with a blaster. He grunted and fell to the ground, smoking from the chest wound that had killed him. Rey didn’t hesitate before she left her hiding place and ducked, smoothly stepping under her next opponent’s defence and sliding her merciless weapon into the gap between her ribs. 

The woman died with a quiet gurgle, sliding off of Rey’s blade as her body reacted to the hot saber with a nauseating sizzle. Rey bit back her disgust and raised her blade, holding it close to her body while she waited for the response to her question. She moved quickly, jerking her wrist with little effort as she was rushed by three new fighters. 

A pulse in the Force prompted her to duck, narrowly avoiding the buzzing steel of a sword as it passed through the air where her head had been a split-second before. Rey’s eyebrows rose briefly as she noted that the weapon crackled with electricity; it would have neatly incapacitated her had it made contact.

She made sure that the creature who wielded it never got the chance to test it on her. She spun again, kicking up a spray of snow that camouflaged the flash of her golden sword. The remaining two fighters were down and breathing out their death rattles before the snow had fallen back to the ground with a wet thump. 

“They’re over that ridge. You need to move,” Ben urged her, running powerfully beside her as she spun and whirled. With a grunt of effort, she launched her body into the air, tapping into the Force that thrummed powerfully through her system. She hung in the air for a second too long, taking a deep breath at the height of her jump. 

“Use your momentum,” Ben continued, moving seamlessly with her as she righted her saber and dropped, landing at the perfect angle to eliminate the snipers who were hiding behind a snow ridge. She gasped for a moment, fighting to catch her breath as she ducked behind a tree. 

The Force thundered around her, and she closed her eyes, searching for any ripple that would indicate that she was about to be ambushed. 

A long moment passed. 

She saw nothing, and she opened her eyes to see that Ben stood right next to her. If he had a tangible form, he would have been pressed against her side. 

Rey’s eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t move. 

“You’re very close to me,” she noted, trying to ignore the way that her stomach jumped as Ben’s gaze dropped to hers. 

He didn’t move. “You’re the only one who can see me.”

“It doesn’t matter, you’re distracting,” Rey huffed, turning the other way to peek around the tree trunk. “I think I got the last of them.”

She deliberately changed the subject. 

“Your technique is better. You’re more deliberate with your blade,” Ben murmured, leaning nonchalantly against the tree. The warmth in his gaze made Rey completely forget that she was wet and cold from the snow that fell silently around them. She nursed a warm little glow inside her chest at the pride in his tone.

“There’ll be more. I shouldn’t be distracted,” she finally replied, turning away to hide the blush that rose in the apples of her cheeks. Her heart thumped irregularly against her ribs, so loudly that she was afraid that he would hear it. 

“They’re all dead,” Ben said in response, shaking his head as her inquisitive gaze settled back onto him. “You can check if you’d like.”

She knew in her bones that he was correct. The air around them felt different now, thicker somehow, and she sucked air into her lungs. Silently, she counted the lives that she’d just taken, and an invisible weight settled onto her chest. 

Fifteen people had fallen to her blade today. 

Rey’s face fell. She closed her eyes briefly, unsure how to feel. She killed when she had to, but guilt gnawed at her every time that she did. Her head fell back against the rough bark of the tree, and she angled her neck to look at him. 

“Does it get easier?” She asked softly, searching his expressive face for any sign of the answer that she was looking for. Rey couldn’t have put into words what she was feeling, but she doubted that any answer that Ben could give would bring her peace. 

He was silent for a long moment, mulling over her question. Rey didn’t press him; she knew that his past was still too fresh for him to be free of guilt and regret. 

“Yes, and no,” he said finally, “Yes, you’ll stop wondering what their stories were, if they had children, if someone loved them. But no, watching the light leave their eyes doesn’t get easier.”

His voice grew smaller with every syllable, until he spoke in a whisper. The pained timbre of his words made Rey’s heart ache for him. 

Just as she did every second of every day, Rey wished fervently that she could throw her arms around him. His eyes shone with emotion, and she could see him descending into a dark mood. 

“Ben,” she said quietly, unthinkingly reaching out towards his semi-translucent form. “The person who killed all of those people wasn’t you. I know that you didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter which side I was on, I took too many lives to count,” he said roughly, “I don’t get to preach morality.”

“If it matters, I forgive you,” Rey whispered. Her gaze locked onto his, and something that felt like lightning crackled between them, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. 

Ben always knew what she wasn’t able to put into words. His lips parted, and the reverent look in his eye quickly shifted to one that she could only describe as blazing. She knew that look, and it made excitement and anticipation flood through her legs. She suddenly felt blissfully weak. 

He reached towards her like she was a lifeline, and she was quickly transfixed by the emotion that still shone in his expressive face. 

His hand trembled as it drew closer to hers, and she couldn’t ignore that her palm was sweating, hoping desperately that just this once, she could touch him. 

His hand met hers in the middle, and she bit her lip with frustration as her hand passed straight through his. He could still affect objects, but touching her wasn’t an option. His expression darkened once more, and she was drawn to the longing that coloured his features. 

It was too much; she couldn’t take it anymore. Her gaze dropped. 

“Stop looking at me like that,” Rey said weakly, shaking her head minutely. “You’re making it difficult-“

“Once isn’t enough,” he whispered roughly, taking a step closer to her. “It’s torture, not being able to touch you.”

He was so close now that she had to tilt her head back to keep him in view. Reflexively, Rey’s eyes started to slide shut, but she stopped herself just in time. Frustrated tears welled up in her eyes, and as one tear slipped below her lash line, Ben’s anguished gaze followed its path along her cheek. 

“I wish that I could change this,” Rey breathed, clenching her fist at her side to prevent herself from trying to brush her thumb along his dimpled chin. 

He let out a small sound then, and her brows drew together in confusion for a second before she realized that it was a bitter laugh, heavy with the emotion that he worked vainly to suppress. 

“I told you, there’s nothing that could have stopped me,” he informed her firmly, “This was my destiny, just like it was yours to live.”

“You can’t stop me from feeling this way,” she murmured hotly, transfixed by his mouth as he leaned another millimetre closer. If he’d been alive, his breath would have ghosted over her lips, and the thought made her shiver. 

“I can’t stop you from doing anything,” he muttered wryly, raising one eyebrow at her. A smile threatened to turn the corner of her mouth upwards, and she felt her pained expression softening at the sight of his amusement. 

“That didn’t stop you from trying,” Rey said lightly, relishing the way that his eyes crinkled when he smiled. “Our bond frightened me at first. I couldn’t understand why the Force was so determined to bring us together. It’s so clear now.”

He made a small sound of agreement; his expression grew thoughtful. 

“Did you know…?” Rey asked slowly, reddening as Ben’s curious gaze bore into her. “That we were destined to be, well-“

“Inseparable.”

“Yes,” she muttered, suddenly unable to look at him. It was too intense, having him so close. Desire coursed quickly through her body, setting her skin aflame and making it damn near impossible to think. 

“I never allowed myself to hope for more than the ability to speak at will,” he admitted, drawing back slightly. “I thought you hated me.”

“I did,” Rey said softly, swallowing hard at the flash of regret that clouded his handsome features. “But then I saw the good in you. I didn’t expect to fall-“

She paused, afraid of the emotions that lay heavy in her chest. His thunderstruck expression made her heart skip a beat, and she looked away, unable to force herself to utter the words that still lay on her tongue. 

He hummed a soft sound of agreement. “Me neither.”

A comfortable silence fell between them, and Rey raised her face to watch the snow that fell around them. Everything was muffled, and she allowed herself to enjoy standing in stillness with the man that she loved. 

Too soon, she forced herself to focus and return to the task at hand. Ben noticed that she was businesslike once more. He straightened to his full height and glanced towards the forest beyond their hiding spot. 

“Are you ready to continue?” He finally asked, settling his steady gaze back on her. Rey nodded, taking a deep breath. 

“Yes. Where is the entrance to the base?”

“It’s not far from here. You’re going to need a passcode to get into the com room.”

“Do you know what it is?”

An enigmatic expression darkened his mien, and Rey couldn’t help the confused smirk that slid over her mouth. “Ben?”

“As long as they haven’t changed it, then yes.”

“What is it?” She pressed, unable to keep her curiosity at bay. The strange new look in his eye intrigued her, to the point that she didn’t care if she annoyed him. She had to know what was making him look so guilty.

He wouldn’t look at her. “The date and coordinates of the first time we fought together. I changed all of the codes when I took command.”

Her jaw dropped. “Ben Solo, that is _ridiculous_.”

Her peal of laughter rang through the trees around them, and she pressed a hand to her chest, unable to quiet her mirth. Memories flooded through her mind’s eye, of red-suited imperial guards with sparking weapons, and fire that had licked at the walls of Snoke’s throne room.

That day was the first time that she’d felt a rush of hope and cautious affection when she’d looked at the Skywalker heir. She’d seen the Light inside of him that had refused to be snuffed out. 

“It isn’t,” he replied stiffly, trying and failing to be stern as she continued to laugh. His façade quickly cracked, and soon the corner of his mouth ticked upwards in a small smile. 

Rey drank in every inch of him, overwhelmed by the way that his eyes glimmered with affection. He always smiled like someone who had almost forgotten how, and it felt like a small victory whenever the intensity of this gaze softened and he allowed her to see what he was truly feeling. 

The fact that he wasn’t alive with her still felt like a red-hot brand on her heart, but she determinedly held onto the moment. All too soon, she quieted and turned her attention back to the base that lay in the distance. 

“So I have to get into the base, and then get into control room three.”

“Yes. The communication center needs to be disabled; this system’s com network can’t communicate without the right frequencies. They were made to be used by the First Order; they can’t broadcast to any other receptors.”

Rey’s jaw clenched at the thought. “If we get rid of the coms, we get rid of any remaining efforts to gather Final Order allies.”

Ben nodded. “Yes.”

Rey reignited her saber and strode forwards. She concentrated fiercely for a moment, drawing from the Force energy that swirled around them. A strange vibration drew her half a mile to her left, and she darted a glance at Ben. 

_It feels like my lightsaber. The Force is pulling me towards something._

He nodded, confirming her suspicions.

“You’re feeling the kyber crystals in the base. I’m right behind you.”

Rey tensed, gathering her thoughts for a split second before she took off running once more. Her boots crunched over the surface of the snow that was piled higher in this part of the forest. She quickly scaled an ice wall, hissing with pain and annoyance as her makeshift handholds burned her skin from the cold. She decided against soothing the frost burn with the Force; she would need that energy later, if her gut instinct was anything to go by. 

Her path was unmarked by attackers, which prompted a small knot of worry to spin in her belly. 

“It’s too quiet,” she called. Ben ran beside her with little effort. His brow furrowed. 

“They know that you’re here,” he rumbled, darting a concerned glance at her. 

“You know that I can handle them,” she muttered, focusing on her breathing as they darted out of the treeline. 

He let out a small laugh. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

She didn’t have time to respond.

The base loomed out of the snow ahead of them, dark and foreboding against the purity of the ice. The great doors at the front of the edifice hissed open, revealing dozens of cloaked figures. Rey adjusted her grip on her lightsaber and charged. 

She spun and whirled, using her weapon as an extension of her body. Dodge, parry, thrust; the dance of battle allowed her to descend into a state of icy calm. 

_Left. Duck just slightly. Attack lower, this one’s got a bad leg. Sweep his feet out from under him, downwards thrust. Watch your left flank._

Her lightsaber buzzed and sang as she swung it in aggressive manoeuvers. With Ben’s help, she’d started to use her strength more efficiently; she’d learned not to give her opponents a chance to get under her guard while hammering them with powerful blows. She couldn’t have measured how much time had passed; fighters just kept coming, and she mercilessly put them down. 

Exhaustion threaded through her muscles, but she gritted her teeth and determinedly kept fighting. Ben moved with her, using every ounce of his Force ability to shift the snow beneath the First Order soldiers, rendering their footing less sure and allowing Rey a chance to finish them off before they were able to recover. 

Sweat trickled down Rey’s forehead, and she impatiently wiped it away as she readjusted her grip on the saber. Pain bloomed in her leg, and she looked down with confusion. 

A thrown knife had sliced into her thigh; she hadn’t seen it coming. Anger flooded into her mouth, and she tasted the coppery tang of adrenaline as her heartrate skyrocketed. With a roar of effort, she used the Force to pull the last fighter towards her and thrust her blade into his chest. 

He died without making a sound, and she dropped to one knee as the weight of his body pulled her towards the ground. Guilt burned in her chest, and she pressed her arm against her eyes in an effort to will hot and angry tears away from her eyes. 

“Rey,” Ben urged her softly, “We need to move. Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” she insisted rising to her feet and stalking towards the cavernous entrance, which still lay open. Rey refused to look at Ben; she couldn’t bear to see the pity and understanding written all over his face. With their bond, it’s not like she could hide any of her emotions from him anyways. 

Mercifully, he didn’t press. “Take the main hallway until you come to a fork. The left wing is where the control panel is. It’s the last room.”

Rey followed his instructions, hurrying through the deserted hallways. Lights flickered as the generator that powered the base struggled to keep up. Rey shivered; it was freezing inside. 

_No wonder they all wore cloaks._

“How do you know that the control room is down here?” She asked, shivering as she jogged down the hallway that Ben had directed her towards. He hesitated before answering; she didn’t like the dark cast to his features. Even the blue radiance of his Force ghost couldn’t diffuse the pain etched into every line of his face. 

“All communication bases are built the same way,” Ben said shortly. His tone didn’t invite any further discussion; Rey knew that he hated to revisit anything that reminded him of the man that he used to be. She nodded and continued. The hallway twisted and turned almost endlessly, until they finally approached the last door. The control pad shone brightly in the semi darkness.

She glanced at Ben, who nodded at her to try out the code. Hesitantly, she raised a hand and typed in the number. 

His eyebrows rose as he realized that she also knew the date and coordinates by heart. She threw him a pointed look that said: _if we were still fighting against one another, you couldn’t lock me out._

He didn’t look guilty in the slightest, which warmed her. A smile ghosted around the corners of her mouth. 

Rey held her breath as she pressed the final button. After the longest two seconds of her life, the keypad beeped merrily and turned green. The doors hissed open, revealing the control room. Ben swept past her, sporting a very bright blush on his high cheekbones. 

Rey bit her lip to keep an acerbic comment at bay. Her boots tapped against the tiled floor as she followed. Without a second thought, she swept her lightsaber along the length of the control boards. The components popped and sparked as the plasma blade ripped through the metal and polymer pieces that made up the communication center. The air filled with smoke as the machinery died with a dull pop. 

Rey surveyed her work with a critical eye. _I’m not finished here. I know that I have to find whatever's calling to me._

“Where are the kyber crystals?” She asked quietly. 

Ben hesitated, tapping his foot for a moment before he sighed. “Below ground. They power the cannons around the base.”

“How much firepower do they have?” Rey demanded, turning on her heel to face him. “We can’t just leave them here. The Force is telling me to find them.”

Ben nodded. “I’ll take you. Keep your blade ready.”

He swept from the room, and Rey darted after him. Their height difference made it difficult for her to match his pace while walking, so she settled on a comfortable jog. He glanced back at her and slowed just enough to allow her to keep up. She smiled at him, enjoying the way that the deep furrow lines in his forehead eased as his expression softened in response. 

There was only one guard in the command room. A tiny press of a button deactivated the golden saber that still burned in her hand. Anticipation pulsed quietly through Rey’s palm where it still firmly grasped the hilt of her weapon. 

Rey quickly slid into the room, pressing herself out of sight underneath one of the control computers. The counter was short, barely enough to cover her head and shoulders. Rey doubted that she could keep out of sight if the guard decided to move. 

He did. The sound of the pressure-controlled doors opening had put him on high alert. Ben stood in the corner near her, watching the man like a hawk. She nearly hissed at him to find a place to hide before she remembered one crucial thing. It took all of Rey’s willpower not to smile; sometimes she forgot that she was the only one who could see him. 

She decided that she didn’t want to have any more blood on her hands, and so she concentrated and directed a small measure of the Force towards the guard who had ambled towards her to investigate the door opening. 

When it became clear that she couldn’t hide properly, Rey switched tactics. Her hand moved in a barely imperceptible flick to the right. 

“You’re exhausted, and you want to go home,” she whispered. 

“I’m exhausted and I want to go home,” the guard promptly responded, bracing his arm against the wall. He wiped his forehead clean of imaginary sweat. 

Rey almost laughed. Amusement curled through her belly, and she fought to keep her voice even. “You’re going to take one of the carriers and leave this place. This was your idea.”

“I think I’ll take one of the carriers and get out of this place,” he intoned, pressing the button that opened the doors. He stepped into the hallway, and Rey straightened enough to peek over the top of the console. He marched enthusiastically down the hall, and she grinned at Ben. 

His expression was vaguely amused. “And if he comes back?”

“We’ll deal with that if it happens,” Rey said evasively, brushing off her hands as she clipped her weapon back to her hip. “Where do we go from here?”

“Take that staircase,” Ben replied, pointing to a small metal stairwell that sat to the far right of the control centre. He moved quickly, confidently downwards, and Rey followed him. Her gaze raked over the tension in his shoulders, and the rigidity of his steps. 

“Ben,” she finally murmured, jogging forwards to catch his eye. “I can do this alone, you don’t have to-“

“I’m coming with you,” he said firmly, relaxing a mite. “It’s down here.”

Rey fell silent. He didn’t have to explain any further; she knew what he was thinking. He didn’t trust himself; he still had doubts that he had the strength to resist the Dark that had held him in thrall for so long. Death couldn’t erase a deeply-rooted fear. 

She was about to voice her understanding when they came to another sealed door. Rey tapped the keypad, raising an eyebrow when no code was required. The doors slid open with a small hiss. 

“Hubris,” Ben said by way of explanation, shrugging. 

Rey shook her head, glaring at the keypad with thinly veiled annoyance. “What?”

“The First Order couldn’t fathom that someone unauthorized could walk through the control room and access the synthcrystals,” Ben continued, crossing his arms. 

“It would have been good to know that when the Resistance was actually trying to get into these chambers,” Rey said ruefully. She took a step into the room, unable to resist the pull of the crystals within. The Light sang through her veins, drawing her closer.

“The cannon blasts charge here,” Ben said quietly, eyeing the room with distaste. Rey barely heard him; she was too busy listening to the singing of the crystals. 

She stepped into the room, following her instincts. A soft buzzing greeted her. Something was alive inside the room. 

“These aren’t synthcrystals,” Rey breathed. “They’re the real thing. How?”

Ben’s eyes narrowed. “They must have mined them from this moon’s core.”

In the center of the room was a large metal column that vibrated so enthusiastically in response to her presence that Rey had to concentrate hard in order to think. She reached out, not caring what the consequences were; she had to communicate with the crystals. Something ancient and strange compelled her. 

As soon as her hand touched the metal casing, whatever was inside woke up. 

The resulting concussion blast forced her to shield her eyes. 

Ben called out to her, throwing out a hand. She reflexively reached for him, letting out a frustrated oath as his hand passed straight through hers once more. 

_I can’t think!_

“Calm down,” she ordered the gemstones, directing the force of her will towards the still-pulsing shards of kyber crystal. 

“Rey, don’t-“

Their presence and the strength of their Force bond had driven the kybers into frenzy. They began to rattle inside their metal casing, sending out pulses of energy that threatened to throw Rey off of her feet. She slid backwards several feet before finding her balance. The room shook violently. 

“How do I make it stop?” She yelled, turning to look at Ben. His Force ghost shimmered violently, and she could see that he was concentrating just as hard as she was to remain in one piece. 

“Use the saber!” He yelled back, taking a half step backwards to keep his balance. The ignition of Rey’s weapon was lost in the din. Rey roared with effort as she swung her lightsaber, forcing her arm through the currents of energy that attempted to keep them at bay. 

“You have to remove one! They can’t channel their energy if the facets don’t match!” Ben bellowed, fighting to be heard above the racket. 

The saber connected with the column, shattering it. The crystals within hummed with vitality, vibrating the room hard enough to make Rey’s teeth rattle. She gathered her courage and plunged her arm into the heart of the crystal chamber. Her palm met the warmth of a kyber crystal, and she quickly wrapped her fingers around it and withdrew it. 

The connection that held the kyber facets together was interrupted, shattering the energy flow that pulsed through the flawless gemstones. The crystals that remained in the console cracked, shattering into harmless shards of mineral. 

Rey stood rooted to the spot, breathing hard as the vibrations abruptly stopped. 

The hum of machinery was gone, and she found the sudden silence deafening. Ben strode over to her, and she flinched as his hand brushed against her back. 

Her eyes widened. The crystal felt like it was frantically fluttering in her sweaty palm, pulsing with a soft frequency. 

_The crystal is a conduit._

“Your hand-” Rey choked out, turning to face him as shock flickered over his expression. Her jaw dropped as she realized that the kyber was reacting to their _bond_.

“I can touch you,” he whispered wonderingly, staring at his hand before he raised his head and looked her directly in the eye. His expression blazed with warmth as he closed the distance between them. His gentle hands cradled her face, tipping her head back. The shock of feeling his skin against hers made Rey’s breath catch in her throat. 

“Ben-“

She only had time to gasp before he kissed her. Rey whimpered as her hands wound into his soft hair, trying to pull him as close as possible. His mouth claimed hers, possessively, but almost achingly gentle as one of his hands left her face and smoothed up her back. Every nerve in her body came to life as he kissed her; she’d never felt so fragile and powerful at the same time. The deliberate gentleness of Ben's lips against hers felt like he was tracing his name into her heart. Everything was set aflame as desire coursed through her body, reacting to the firmness of Ben’s body against hers. 

Rey felt like she couldn’t breathe, didn’t want to breathe as passion overtook them. It had been weeks since he’d reappeared to her, and she spent her every moment craving his touch. Her teeth accidentally grazed Ben's lip, and he made a low sound, deep in his throat, that rumbled through every inch of her body. She clung to him as the kiss deepened, losing her balance completely as his kisses pulled all of the strength out of her legs. 

Bolts of molten heat sped straight through her, growing more intense by the second as Ben’s tongue softly skimmed over her bottom lip. She greedily demanded more, pulling him impossibly closer. Her hand clutched the kyber crystal as if her life depended on it. 

For all that he was soft and warm; Ben was solid, anchoring her as joy made her feel lightheaded. He’d always lived in the centre of a beautiful dichotomy, and she loved him for it. 

Rey was swept up in a wave of warmth as their bond reacted, pulsing through their intertwined bodies. Ben’s free hand reached up to cradle her face once more as the kyber crystal pressed in her palm keened suddenly and shattered, pelting her with tiny shards of what felt like glass. 

Suddenly, she couldn’t feel him anymore. The pain of the dozens of tiny cuts peppered all over her skin didn’t even register as the feel of Ben’s body against hers disappeared. 

There was a split second of shocked silence before panic overtook everything. The desire that had twisted through her body suddenly vanished as the icy touch of horror made her heart skip a beat. She fell to her knees, biting back pained sobs as she realized that she might never be able to see him again. 

“Ben,” she pleaded brokenly. Fear flooded into her veins, and her hands scrabbled across the floor, searching desperately for the remains of the kyber crystal. “No, no, no, please don’t be gone-“

“Don’t cry.”

Rey cut off as Ben’s ghost flickered into view. Her breath caught in her chest as relief overrode every emotion that pulsed through her. 

“Please,” he said, so quietly that she almost didn’t hear him. “I can’t watch you weep for me.”

His tone was filled with so much pain that her heart felt it was breaking all over again. She pressed her hand to her mouth as he sat down next to her. Sobs shook her shoulders, and she couldn’t think. 

“I thought that I’d lost you again,” Rey finally managed to murmur. The tightness of her chest made it hard to breathe, and she dragged a ragged breath into her lungs. Grief roughened her tone, and she raised her gaze to meet Ben’s. 

The anguish in his eyes was too much for her to handle. Every atom in her body wanted to comfort him, to pull him into her arms once more. Rey felt like an addict; chained to him, but unable to satisfy the need that nearly consumed her. 

“I’m here,” he murmured. A tear trickled silently down his cheek as she sobbed, still sitting on the floor. “I won’t leave you. Never again.”

After a few moments, Rey finally calmed. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re here.”

His steady gaze was filled with a thousand different expressions, his features flit between them so quickly that she couldn't pin down anything specific; but she knew exactly what he was thinking. 

Ben gathered several of the crystal shards in his hands. The Force rustled around them as he spun the glittering fragments around his long fingers. 

"Ben?"

"We have hope," he murmured, raising his gaze to look at her, "If I have to track down every kyber crystal in the galaxy, I will." 

A small smile slowly traced across Rey's mouth. 


	3. A New Hope

Fierce winds whipped the waters of Ahch-To into a frantically swirling frenzy. Warring waves crashed against one another, spraying water over the small x-wing as it shot towards land. The green planet was just as beautiful as Rey remembered it. She could already feel the wind whipping through her hair, the endless rain soaking her to the bone, and taste the briny scent of the air. 

She loved every part of it. 

The humming presence of the Force was stronger than she remembered, and she took a deep breath, centering herself in the push and pull of balance. Rey let her eyelids slide shut; she didn’t need to see to know where she was going. Her mind’s eye could still conjure every coordinate of Luke’s original map. 

Temple Island called to her, drawing her towards the person that she sought. The kyber fragments that she kept in a small leather pouch at her side vibrated ever so slightly, pulsing against her side in a way that was both comforting and strangely alien. 

After a moment, she opened her eyes. She wasn’t alone anymore. 

“I can feel something, like it’s in my blood,” Rey observed, smiling widely. Her excitement was so palpable, she could almost taste it. “We’re on the right track.”

“I feel it too,” Ben said quietly, right behind her ear. “Our bond is stronger here.”

He didn’t elaborate. He didn’t need to. She knew exactly what he meant. 

“It’s been too quiet without you,” Rey said ruefully. She couldn’t disguise the disappointment in her tone; she hadn’t heard Ben’s voice or seen him for nearly two days. 

Over the course of two short months, he’d become so ingrained in her life that the thought of being without him was suffocating. She knew that he was still progressing towards finding balance within the Light, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to be selfish and ask him to stay with her day and night. 

“I’m always here,” Ben murmured. His voice sounded so close to her ear that her pulse immediately jumped. 

“Promise?” She whispered, holding her breath as she waited for his answer. 

“Promise,” he affirmed. She could hear the smile that slid shyly across his mouth as he spoke. She bit her lip in a vain effort to keep her thoughts from wandering. 

Her eyes narrowed as the spray in front of them fell back into the turbulent ocean, revealing a jagged outcropping of rock that jutted out from the shallow water. Rey expertly steered the spaceship around the granite spears that threatened to tear the bottom of the ship out from under her feet. She let out a long breath, still fighting to keep her thoughts on course. She couldn’t afford to lose her concentration in the last stretch. 

As always, the affection in Ben’s tone had warmed her blood and made her feel loose-limbed and giddy. 

Ever since he’d broken the news that they were two halves of a Force dyad, she’d finally had a term to describe their bond. The missing puzzle pieces had clicked into place. It was beyond life and death, something that she’d never allowed herself to hope for. Rey felt as if something crucial was missing when Ben wasn’t by her side. She would never ask him to choose between her and his path to balance, but she craved his presence. 

She’d finally given herself permission to love Ben wholeheartedly, after all. Bond or no bond, they shared something that not even the opposing halves of the Force could keep apart. 

“The first Jedi temple is on the island just ahead,” Rey replied, finally turning her attention back to their task, “The Force is more compelling here than I’ve ever felt it.”

“You trained here.”

His statement wasn’t a question. 

“I did. The locals hated me. I have a knack for breaking things,” she admitted guiltily. 

“Really. I’m usually the one wreaking havoc.”

He was becoming more comfortable with expressing his dry wit, and Rey fought the urge to laugh. 

Rey huffed out a small groan. “I blasted through the wall of a house and I accidentally destroyed some very old and sacred rock structures.”

Ben fell silent for a moment. Rey knew that he was thinking. She patiently waited for him to continue; he was often pensive, it was just a matter of time until he shared his train of thought. 

“We spoke to each other through our bond for the first time here,” he murmured, “It was after you surrendered to the Force. You tried to shoot me with a blaster.”

“Yes. I opened myself up to the Force,” she corrected gently. A pulse in their connection spoke to her of shame and frustration; Ben was disappointed that he’d slipped up again. 

Sometimes, he still had a tendency to describe things as objects to be conquered. He had difficulty seeing shades of grey in the Force, which had led to several tense discussions lately. She reminded herself that he’d spent years thinking that way, so she couldn’t fault him for the way that he still viewed the world around him. 

Rey firmly believed that she’d be a hypocrite if she condemned his affinity for the Dark. After all, he’d seen into her heart so many times that he probably understood what tempted her better than she did. Just as she’d coaxed him towards the Light, he’d shown her how the Dark was necessary; it brought balance. 

As a neutral Jedi, she understood that both Light and Dark existed in every living thing. Her and Ben included. 

_It’ll take time to let go of the turmoil inside of his heart. I won’t let it eat him alive._

“Sorry,” Ben muttered.

“You’ll get it, just keep trying,” Rey reassured him, nodding encouragingly. “You’re as stubborn as I am.”

“Not by half,” he mumbled. “You make me look like a pushover.”

He trailed off, and Rey could hear a smile reasserting itself in his tone again. Curiosity reared up in her belly. 

“What?” She half-demanded, fighting the urge to crane her head around to look at him. Not for the first time, she was miffed that Ben could manifest as a disembodied voice; she never tired of seeing the ever-changing expressions on his face. His soft chuckle both fascinated and frustrated her, and she was barely able to keep her insistent question at bay. 

“I wiped salt water off of my face the second time that we argued,” Ben admitted slowly, “I should have known that Luke would seek sanctuary on an ocean planet.”

“Why?” Rey asked, unsure of his point. 

“Given that you both grew up on desert planets, this place would look like a paradise to you.”

Rey hummed her agreement, reaching up to flick a switch. 

“That feels like a lifetime ago that I sought him out,” Rey remarked quietly, slowing the x-wing slightly as they came within five miles of the island. “So much has changed, especially between us.”

_Us._

Rey didn’t think that she could ever get tired of that word. It was only one syllable, but it carried so much weight. 

“I have you to thank for that.” 

The timbre of Ben’s voice had lowered; his reply had rumbled from right behind her ear. Rey’s eyes widened. A delightful shiver rippled down her arms, prompting her to clear her throat and adjust her seating position. She straightened her back and fought to keep a bright blush from burning down her neck. 

“You might have turned without my help,” she murmured. “The conflict within you was there long before I met you.”

“You gave me a reason to change. I couldn’t see a way out of the Darkness before I met _you_ ,” he said lowly. 

“But Leia-“

“I wouldn’t have allowed myself to open up to the Light if you hadn’t pushed me towards it.”

Rey chose to bite her tongue. That was only half of the truth, but she appreciated the sentiment behind his words, nonetheless. She knew that Leia had always been in Ben’s heart, no matter how deeply he’d entrenched himself in the mind of Kylo Ren. The lie that he’d lived for so long had shattered too easily for his gruff statement to be true, but she knew that he needed time to accept that fact. She busied her hands by turning off the navigation system and preparing to land. 

“When you’re this quiet, it usually means that you’re working yourself up for an argument,” Ben said softly, huffing out an almost silent laugh. 

Her neck rippled with goosebumps; she could have sworn that she felt Ben’s warm breath ghosting across her skin again. Her pulse jumped, thundering through her palm where it gripped the steering column. 

“It’s fine,” she replied. A smirk danced around her mouth. “You’ll agree with me eventually.”

“We’ll see.”

She allowed herself to enjoy the moment; the weight of Ben’s gaze always made her skin feel hyper-sensitive. Unbidden, her thoughts shot directly to the memory of their kiss on Xaxbaa. The thought of his lips moving against hers prompted the ember of desire that she nursed in her chest to flicker to life. 

_We’ll have answers soon enough._

The landing gear deployed with a loud click as it responded to the switch that she’d just flipped, unceremoniously pulling her back to the present. She directed the craft to descend until it barely skimmed across the turbulent surface of the ocean. They exploded out of the mist and ocean spray into a rare break in the clouds. 

Sunlight glittered brightly on the surface of the water, painting the waves with swathes of gold. The blue of the sky was so bright after the muted colours of the sea storm that Rey had to flip the visor down on Luke’s old helmet. The ocean was still wildly crashing around them, but Rey didn’t hesitate to stay the course. 

They crested the top of a white-capped wave, and Rey finally caught sight of their destination. 

Her stomach flip flopped excitedly as she took in the view of the rocky temple island. Guiltily, she spied the crumbling wreckage of Ben’s old tie-fighter; the charred husk marred the landscape like a bruise. 

Idly, she wondered if his memories of their conversations here were as fond as hers were. At the time, she’d viewed their communication with disdain and fear, until she’d come to the earth-shattering realization that Ben Solo was still alive. The memory of touching his hand through their bond still felt like sparks were flying over her skin. 

She made a mental note to ask Ben if he remembered that night the same way. For now, she concentrated her efforts on steering the x-wing smoothly towards a flat outcropping of rock that overlooked the thundering ocean. 

“So this is where he hid for so long,” Ben remarked softly. Rey didn’t need to look at him to know exactly how he felt; his neutral tone did a poor job of hiding the turmoil that he barely held at bay. 

“This is where I came after I left you on Kef Bir,” Rey said softly. “I burned your ship.”

A small huff of a laugh whispered across the back of her neck. She shivered. 

“I was wondering what you did with it,” Ben replied softly. His tone was tempered with mirth, and the corner of Rey’s mouth lifted at the sound. 

Rey practically vibrated with excitement as her x-wing slowly descended onto the lush green landing pad. The starcraft finally made contact and landed with a loud click, powering down immediately as Rey flicked several switches and pressed the button that cut the main power. 

The sudden silence was deafening. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” She asked softly, turning to look over her shoulder. Ben sat right behind her, squished into the tiny droid housing behind the pilot’s chair. His stormy expression softened slightly as her hopeful gaze met his. 

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” he said solemnly. The apathetic timbre of his voice was at complete odds with the warm affection that pooled in his dark eyes. “Luke knows more about kybers than anyone else.”

“I can try to communicate with the other Jedi-“ Rey began, cutting off as Ben tensed and looked away. She stopped talking midsentence, swept up in the rush of emotions that overwhelmed him. Their bond sang through her veins. 

_Leia. He still can’t see her._

Anguish slipped over Ben’s expression like a veil, and unthinkingly, Rey reached for him. Her fingers stopped barely a millimeter from his skin, but he sucked in a breath as if she’d gently brushed her fingertips along his jaw. Electricity cracked between them; Rey had to force herself to move her hand away. The kyber shards in her pouch vibrated again, and she pointedly ignored the hope that flared to life in her heart. 

The shards by themselves weren’t enough to give Ben a solid form. They’d tried to replicate what had happened on Xaxbaa, but the remaining splinters of the precious mineral were too fragile and fragmented to properly resonate at the frequency of their dyad. That was the only certainty that they had at the moment. 

She wanted nothing more than to kiss him; it was incredibly difficult to be this close to him and still be unable to touch him after the kyber crystal had allowed them a moment of perfect bliss. Desire surged in her belly, but she took a calming breath, willing her heart rate to return to normal.

Ben made a small sound of agreement. She inspected every inch of his face, mesmerized by the tenderness of his gentle smile. The heat of joy glowed quietly in her chest; Rey knew that she would never get tired of the way that he looked at her. 

“I know,” he murmured. 

Rey tore her gaze away from the simmering heat in his dark eyes; she knew that Luke was waiting. 

“I should go meet him,” she said regretfully. “You don’t have to come-“

“I’m coming with you,” Ben said firmly. Rey nodded, touched by his determination. 

He hesitated for a second. Doubt flitted across his expression, and he clenched his jaw. “I might not be able to see him.”

Rey’s mouth opened in a small “oh” of understanding. “I’m sure you’ll be able to; you’re strong in the Force now.”

“What if he doesn’t come?” Ben asked suddenly; his tone was half-desperate as he leaned towards her. Rey tilted her head back slightly; she didn’t move an inch as he finally stopped a hair’s breadth from her lips. They both froze, basking in the delicious torture that was being so close but unable to give into passion. 

“No matter what, I’m with you,” she whispered, breathing shallowly as her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest. “We’ll do this together. I’ll find a way to convince him.”

“He has no reason to want me alive,” Ben whispered, “After everything I've done-“

“I owe you my life, and he is my master.”

“Loyalty can only take you so far,” he rumbled. The pain that clouded over his eyes made her heart ache. 

“You came home, Ben. It may take time, but he _will_ see that you’re not the same man who fled from the Light,” Rey breathed, unable to take her eyes off of his lips. Her hands trembled. "He's your family."

His shining hand reached out and gripped the seat beside her head. The look in his eye sapped all of the strength out of Rey’s legs, and she forced herself to take a deep breath. Longing thundered through every inch of her body, but she reminded herself to breathe and moved towards the edge of the cockpit. 

“Don’t worry, he won’t miss an opportunity to scold you,” Rey said lightly, popping the cockpit open and taking a much-needed breath of the fresh sea air. She hoped that she sounded more confident than she felt. 

Dry amusement trickled through her from his side of the bond, and the corners of her eyes crinkled in response to the small smile that cautiously trailed across her lips. After a moment, she sobered. Rey couldn’t ignore the feeling of Ben’s anxiety at coming face to face with Luke, and it soured her good mood. 

She understood everything that he felt. Trepidation and hope swirled around her system. She glanced back at him, hoping fervently that her presence was enough to steady his whirling thoughts. 

As soon as her booted feet made contact with the stone of the landing pad, she felt a new presence ripple through the Force. 

“Master Luke!” Rey exclaimed, grinning as she hopped over a small rock wall. “You’re here.”

Her master stood silently on the stone steps that led upwards from the landing platform. His stern expression didn’t budge as Rey scrambled towards him. She knew that he wasn’t nearly as unimpressed as his mien would suggest; Luke wasn’t the type to hold grudges. 

“Where else would I be?” He asked sarcastically. “I see you decided to break all of my rules. I told you no visitors.”

He was, however, prone to dramatics. 

_It’s a family trait_ , she thought drily. _He won’t say anything that will get him in trouble with Leia._

“You came to meet us,” Rey let out a small laugh. “Why else would you come?”

“You thought that I wouldn’t want to see for myself why you brought Ben here?” He replied grumpily, “I thought I taught you better than that.”

Rey almost believed him for a split-second until she saw the mirth that glittered in his eyes. The permanent furrow lines in his forehead softened as he took in the sight of Ben, who stood awkwardly behind Rey. “I knew you would come.”

“You can see him?” Rey demanded, whirling to face Ben. “I thought-“

_Ben’s grown stronger. If he can see Luke, then he’s more attuned to the Light than he realized._

“I can see him,” Ben confirmed, although his tone didn’t leave Rey with the sense that he was happy about it. Rey pursed her lips and resisted the urge to try and smooth out any tension between the Skywalkers. After all, it was their battle to fight, should they wish to reopen old wounds. 

The last time that they’d stood face-to-face, Luke had humiliated Kylo Ren in front of his soldiers, so Rey was both curious and nervous to hear what Ben Solo had to say. 

The tension in the air was so thick that Rey could have cut it with a knife. Seconds of silence stretched out into minutes, until Rey almost couldn’t take it anymore. Her inquisitive gaze never left’s Ben’s face. 

A million different conflicted emotions raged behind Ben’s ancient eyes. Eventually, he settled on an expression of true neutrality and nodded once. “Master.”

His reply had been whispered so quietly that Rey almost didn’t catch it. Her eyes widened, and she snapped her neck around to gauge Luke’s reaction. The old Jedi stood rigidly, watching Ben with something akin to true shock. Just as Rey thought that she might have to intervene to break the tension, Luke’s stony expression softened entirely. 

“We’re past that now,” he said abruptly, turning on his heel and sweeping away. “Come, we have a lot to discuss.”

As he turned, Rey caught sight of a pleased smile dancing around the corners of his mouth. She watched him for a moment, waiting until Luke was out of earshot to ask the question that sat heavily on her tongue. 

Excitement blazed in Rey’s veins, and she turned the full force of her smile on Ben. “You called him “Master”.”

The guarded expression in his eyes melted away as a soft smile curled over his mouth. “I wouldn’t call him any of the names that I used before. All that was left was that and my childhood nickname.”

“What was the nickname?” Rey pressed, unable to suppress her curiosity. His cheeks reddened. 

“I couldn’t say his name properly,” Ben replied evasively, avoiding eye contact as she took a step closer to him. She grinned up at him, fully aware that he couldn’t resist her charm for long. 

“Please?” She murmured, laughing softly as he struggled to keep his cool. Eventually, he sighed. 

“I’ll tell you another time,” he muttered, running a hand over his face to hide his embarrassment as her face lit up. 

He strode past Rey, and unthinkingly, she reached out to touch his arm. Shame flooded through her as she remembered that if she wasn't touching a kyber, he was as tangible as smoke. He stopped in his tracks, regarding her with a mix of regret and affection. 

“It’s a matter of time,” he said simply. 

Rey let out a tiny, bitter laugh. “Is it childish to be angry about having to wait?”

“No,” Ben murmured, “It isn’t.”

The telltale prickling of tears behind Rey’s eyes made her take a deep breath and grit her teeth. “Well then, let’s find out what Master Luke knows about kybers.”

She strode up the stone stairwell that led up to the small village. Nostalgia made her slow her strides and take in the lush greenery; Ben was right, it was a paradise compared to Jakku. Ben kept pace with her, silently looking out over the storming ocean in the distance. Rey couldn’t blame him; the sun breaking through the clouds and shattering into scattered beams of light was a spectacular sight. 

The worry lines around his eyes had softened slightly, and Rey turned to check on him. He didn’t say a word, just turned on his heel to follow. 

Eventually, they crested the top of the stairwell and made their way towards Luke’s small home. Rey strode inside without hesitation, settling herself comfortably on one of the small benches inside. Luke sat with his arms crossed, a stormy expression etched firmly into the lines of his face. 

Ben sat down beside Rey. He leaned forwards and braced his elbows on his knees, fingers laced together. Rey turned towards Luke, anxious to hear his advice. 

“So, you’ve come to badger me with questions,” Luke said quietly, raising one eyebrow.

“Yes,” Rey said honestly, shrugging. “You know more than we do about the Force."

Luke sighed, running a hand over his face. He scratched at his beard, thinking. “First of all, I can’t explain why it took so long for Ben to manifest in the Light-“

“Master Luke, that’s not why we’re here,” Rey interjected, holding up a hand to placate her master. “Something strange happened when we were on a mission, and we need guidance.”

Luke’s questioning gaze snapped onto her. “What happened?”

It was Ben who spoke up, surprising Rey. “We came into contact with genuine kyber crystals. They reacted violently to our bond, and Rey removed one from the portal column in a First Order communications base to stop the vibrations from bringing the building down around us.”

He trailed off, and Rey jumped in. “Master, when I was touching the crystal, Ben became tangible. He wasn’t limited to affecting objects using the Force-“

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Luke interrupted, shaking his head. “I don’t want to hear the gross details. You could touch each other.”

Rey didn’t need to see her reflection to know that her cheeks were currently an unflattering shade of puce.

“So you want to know what I know about kyber crystals so that you can try to replicate what happened.”

“We do,” Ben murmured, “We kept the fragments of remaining kyber.”

Rey quickly passed the small pouch of gently vibrating crystal shards to Luke. He took a deep breath and palmed the bag. After a moment of silent contemplation, he untied the knots that held it closed and tipped the contents of the pouch into the palm of his hand. The Force rustled around them, whipping up a gentle wind as he inspected the kyber. 

Impatience surged through the bond, and Rey shook her head at Ben. He calmed immediately, sheepishly staring down at his feet. Her hand itched to reach out and touch his, but she determinedly kept her attention on Luke. 

The old Jedi sighed. “These don’t feel like abnormal kyber crystals to me. You’re right, they’re the real thing, but I can’t tell you if they’re the reason that Ben regained a physical form.”

“I don’t think that it’s the reason,” Rey blurted, straightening in her seat, “They were conducting the-”

She struggled for a moment to find a word to concisely explain the concept.

“- the current that flows between us. I can’t explain it, but our bond is the reason. The kyber just happened to resonate at the right frequency.”

“How do you know this?” Luke asked seriously, retying the pouch and handing it back to her. He laced his fingers together, mirroring Ben exactly, and peered at her through his bushy eyebrows. 

“It’s a feeling,” Rey replied confidently. 

Luke’s eyes widened minutely. "Ah. Well, I don't have much advice. There's very little in the tomes about dyads, and no information at all about one half of the pair dying."

Rey's face fell. She knew that Ben wore the same expression on his face; that wasn't a good sign. Luke seemed to take pity on them. He closed his eyes for a moment and then heaved a long-suffering sigh. 

"But that doesn't mean that there is _no_ information, you might just have to search for it," Luke said gently, raising one eyebrow. "I may have missed something in the manuscripts. Do you still have access to them?"

Rey nodded. 

"They're with Chewie," Ben said softly. 

Luke was silent for a moment. Finally, he stood and clasped his hands behind his back. “So, you need to know about the crystals. Ask away.”

“They’ve been mined incessantly for generations,” Ben rumbled. He glanced up at Luke, clearly reluctant to voice his concerns. Nervous energy trickled through the bond, and Rey had to concentrate to keep her leg from bouncing in response. She settled for crossing her arms. 

Luke let out a long breath, tapping his metal hand against his leg for a moment before he began to pace. “Yes, they have been. There aren’t many veins left, but there have to be deposits that lie undisturbed. There are crystals that are already mined that exist.”

“How do you know?” Rey asked curiously. 

Luke waved a dismissive hand. “The ancient Jedi tended to keep to their deposits, mining them until they were entirely exhausted before moving onto the next. The Empire raided anything left behind and destroyed dozens of small planets in search of kyber veins. They exist in a symbiotic relationship with the Force, so I can’t see why there wouldn’t be kyber left in the galaxy.”

“In the Outer Reaches, maybe?” Rey asked slowly, thinking hard. “Do you know of any untouched places where we should start looking?”

Luke let out a small laugh. “Of course not. But, I can tell you about one place mentioned the codices that’s unlikely to have been entirely mined by the Empire.”

“Lothal,” Ben said quietly, prompting Rey to shoot him a confused glance. “The First Order discovered how to create large synthcrystals before they completely drained the planet.”

“So you did listen to my teachings,” Luke remarked drily. A small, reluctant smile danced around the corners of his mouth. “Ben’s right. There won’t be much left, but it’s a good place to start. The chance of finding any crystal is very small; you'll need to manage your expectations."

"Was there a lot of kyber in the planet?" Rey asked softly, leaning forwards and resting her elbows on her knees.

"Hundreds of thousands of tonnes, at least. But that was before the Empire got ahold of the planet. It was originally intended to be the next Jedi mine after Ilum was exhausted. Do you know what you’re going to do when you find the kyber?”

Rey was too busy staring at her feet to see the tension in his stance. 

Rey shook her head. “No, this was our first step. All that we know is that the crystals react to our dyad, and we need complete gemstones to make it work.”

"How far are you willing to go?" Luke asked intensely, leaning forwards. 

Rey steadily met his gaze. "As far as we need to. I won't stop until I have answers."

“Then we need to discuss something important before you go any further. I’m forbidding you from searching beyond Lothal for viable crystals.”

Rey shot to her feet. “Master Skywalker! Why would you-“

“The kyber stone that you used was destroyed, Rey. Do you understand what that means?” Luke asked somberly, fixing her with an enigmatic frown. Rey couldn’t have deciphered his mood if her life depended on it. However, her gut instinct informed her that he was just getting started on his lecture. 

“I know, but-“

“There’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to find enough to fix your problem. What if there _is_ no solution?"

"There is one, I know it!" Rey said hotly. 

"Are you going to spend the rest of your life chasing after priceless crystals that shatter into a million pieces anytime that your bond flows through them? This is dangerous, and not just for you and Ben.”

Rey was struck speechless. Luke ignored the betrayal and hurt reflected in her expression. The conflict in his gaze would normally have made her pause, but Rey wasn't in any way ready to see his side. 

“We aren’t going to hurt anyone!” Rey began angrily, fighting to hold back the tears that welled up in her eyes. “I’ve made my choice!”

“This doesn't just involve you! If you continue to damage the remaining living kyber, it may send a shockwave through the Light side of the Force that has consequences that we can’t even imagine! The Jedi lives on in you-”

“Exactly, I _am_ the Jedi!” Rey insisted, “What if we do succeed?! Then there will be two living Jedi! I won’t train any new Jedi until I know for certain that there is no hope for Ben!”

Ben rose to his feet, tensed and ready to join in on the argument, but she held up a hand. He paused, searching her face for answers; whatever he found there seemed to placate him somewhat, and he took a half-step back, although he stayed on his feet. He watched her like a hawk, and Luke noticed. His frown deepened. 

“After everything that you’ve been through, you want to waste your life chasing after something that _may not exist_? Being a Jedi means that you have to make choices for the greater good-”

“You gave up on searching for Exegol, and it was real,” Rey insisted, crossing her arms and glaring at Luke. He took a deep breath, readying his answer, but then he caught a glimpse of the emotion that shone in her tear-filled eyes. "You gave up on _Ben_ -"

"That's enough!" Luke thundered, glaring at her. "I'm trying to help you!" 

“You would deny us a chance at a happy life?” Rey whispered tearfully, “Did you consider that the other half of my dyad has been taken from me? We can't exist like this!”

“Rey-” Luke reached out towards her, but hesitated. “-the last thing that I want to do is cause you pain, but-”

“I wanted your blessing, but I’ll disobey you if I have to,” Rey continued, angrily wiping tears from her face and chin. Ben stepped behind her. lending her his strength. His proximity calmed her, and she sucked in one deep breath after another. Her hand twitched as anger and hurt swept through her; it was all she could do to keep a tight rein on her emotions. She forced her hand away from the hilt of her weapon; it was purely by reflex that she’d reached for her lightsaber. 

“Breathe,” Ben urged her softly, “Don’t let your anger consume you.”

Luke, mercifully, had finally fallen silent; he watched Ben comfort Rey the only way that he could. 

Rey raised her gaze to meet Luke’s. Her heartbeat thumped quickly against her ribcage; she was reluctant to continue arguing with Luke, but she knew, in her bones, that the Force was pushing her towards restoring Ben’s rightful place at her side. Her vision blurred as angry tears poured silently down her cheeks. 

“We won’t fail. I can’t explain it, but the Force is telling me that this is what we need to do,” she whispered. “Fear drove the ancient Jedi to their fate, but I won’t allow it to persuade me to ignore this. I can't just walk away.”

Confusion, hurt, and worry flickered over Luke’s expressive face, almost too quickly to parse apart. Rey held her breath as she waited for his response. Her palms were slick with sweat, and she nursed a tight coil of worry in her chest. She desperately wanted Luke’s approval, but she steeled herself for a fight. 

_I won’t rest until Ben’s given a chance to live_ , she thought fiercely. 

Luke sighed deeply. His gaze slid over Ben, who hadn’t moved a muscle. “And you?”

“The dyad connects us in a way that's impossible to describe. We're meant to be together,” he confirmed, “Listen to the Force. You know we’re right."

Luke’s expression hardened. He pointed a finger at Rey, glaring at her with thinly veiled irritation. “ _You_. Get out of my house. I need to have a word with my nephew.”

Confusion rippled along the bond, and Rey had to agree; Luke had changed his focus so abruptly that she felt unmoored. “Master Luke-“

“It’s fine,” Ben interrupted her, nodding minutely. 

Shocked, Rey stood rooted in place for a moment before she was able to gather her thoughts enough to exit the small stone hut. As the door slammed shut behind her, she turned to face the house, still far too confused to understand what was happening. 

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it was long enough that she nervously began to pace. She could hear Luke speaking animatedly, although she couldn’t make out what he was saying. In response to what she assumed were questions, Ben’s quiet rumble would respond, and Luke would begin anew. 

Rey plopped down on a small stone wall, chewing anxiously on her fingernail. Movement right beside her foot prompted her to look down. A porg chirped loudly at her, but even the sight of the absurd little bird couldn’t bring a smile to her lips. Her head snapped to the side as the sound of shouting reached her ears; a small part of her was worried that they would attempt to kill each other. 

The Force swirled around her, stirring her blood, and she clenched her jaw in an attempt to keep her cool. Her fingers tapped against her leg, drumming out an anxious rhythm that did absolutely nothing to calm the storm of worry and cautious hope that spun wildly in her belly. 

Her brow furrowed, and Rey was debating whether or not she should barge back into the house and demand to be included in the conversation when the door suddenly swung open and the two Skywalkers stepped out. 

She shot to her feet, a million questions spinning in her head, but stopped as she caught sight of the satisfied little smile on Ben’s mouth. He strode towards her, and she ran to meet him. 

“What happened between you two?” Rey demanded, stopping herself from throwing herself into his arms just in time. She doubted that falling on her face in front of Luke would endear him to their quest. 

“He agreed,” Ben replied smoothly. He was so openly pleased that Rey almost couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping. He'd never resembled his father so strongly as he did in this moment. She peered around Ben at Luke, who was standing at a distance with his arms crossed. 

“I’m giving you five years,” he grumbled, “After that, I’m going to annoy you until you stop searching. I'll follow you around the galaxy if I have to.”

"What made you change your mind?" Rey asked, stepping towards Luke. 

He hesitated for a moment before he glanced at Ben. "It's been pointed out to me that I've been wrong about several important things. I'm not pleased about this mission, but Leia won't forgive me if I stand in your way." 

Joy and disbelief competed for dominance in Rey’s chest, but she couldn’t keep her excitement at bay. “Thank you, Master-“

“Don’t thank me yet,” Luke said quietly. The weight of his steady gaze suddenly made Rey very aware that he’d just had his first conversation with his nephew in a over a decade. Her gaze snapped to Ben, who regarded her with so much hope in his gaze that her heart skipped a beat. 

“Were you arguing?” She asked, noting with some satisfaction that Ben quickly reddened and looked away. He wouldn’t meet her accusing glare, and to her surprise, neither would Luke. 

She rolled her eyes. _Skywalkers._

“Rey.”

She turned to look over her shoulder at her master, who gestured for her to follow him. “I have something for you. It wouldn't be right to keep it a secret.”

Shooting a curious glance at Ben, she followed. He shrugged and followed suit. Ben made no sound as he strode up the embankment after her, although she dislodged several tiny rockslides. Rey winced as the shale clattered against the stone of the walkway below them. On a whim, she shot a hand out and used the Force to pull several large shards of stone back into their original moorings. She caught a glimpse of Ben’s expression as she did so, and he was so quietly amused that she nearly lost her hold on the rocks. Hurriedly, she let them go and doubled her pace. 

Luke led them to a small cave nestled between two spires. Inside the small grotto lay a large chest. 

Rey’s eyes widened; it pulsed with a strangely familiar energy. “What is that?”

Luke laid a fond hand on the top of the chest. “Years ago, I stumbled across a vein of kyber on Ilum. There’s nothing left there now, but I was able to salvage enough crystal to forge dozens of new sabers. I don’t need what’s left, but you do. I gave you crystal from this stash to build your lightsaber.”

For the second time in a day, Rey found herself to be speechless. Ben stared at his uncle, clearly thunderstruck. 

“How much do you have?” He murmured. His voice shook ever so slightly, and a pulsing current of hope washed through the bond.

Luke’s expression was soft with acceptance. “I have nine shards of perfect crystal. I was hoping to save them for when you were ready to train new Jedi, Rey, but that can wait. You made a good point; two Jedi are better than one.”

He waved a hand, and the lid of the trunk creaked open. Rey was moving towards the kyber crystals before her thoughts had had a chance to catch up. She palmed one of the shards, laughing breathlessly as it warmed immediately to her touch. 

“Ben, it’s responding to me,” she whispered, cradling the precious stone to her chest. “We have hope.”

He was at her side and crouching down in an instant. Everything other than him fell away as he reached up and, so gently that she could have imagined it, brushed his thumb along her bottom lip. Her heartrate accelerated, making her gasp. He smiled crookedly at her, moving to cradle her face with his wide palm. 

“It wasn’t a dream on Xaxbaa,” Ben murmured reverently, “Tell me that I’m not imagining this.”

“If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up,” Rey breathed, clutching the shimmering crystal for dear life as it ignited, glowing brightly between her fingers as his free hand brushed hers. The bond between them roared to life. 

Ben shifted, closing the distance between them. Rey’s eyes slid shut in anticipation, and her hand trailed up his broad chest, fisting in his soft shirt-

“Hey! You’re as bad as your parents were,” Luke said reproachfully. Rey jumped away from Ben, reddening with embarrassment and shock as her master grumpily turned on his heel and strode down the hill. 

“I-“ She began, darting a glance at Ben. Any vague inclination that she had to follow her master was lost as Ben’s dark gaze met hers. His eyes blazed with longing, and she forgot everything as he reached towards her, pulling her towards his body with clumsy desperation as she threw herself into his arms.

His eyes hungrily searched her face for any hesitation or rejection, and when he found none, he slowly closed the distance between them. Rey held her breath as he drew closer, threading her free hand into his silky hair. The second that his lips brushed hers, she melted. 

This kiss was different. The first had been a clumsy press of lips, a joy-filled embrace. The second had been filled with desperate passion, rife with fear that they would never be able to touch each other again. This time, Rey was overwhelmed with the sheer tenderness of Ben’s mouth against hers. They were so closely intertwined that she wasn’t sure where she ended and he began. 

This kiss was a promise. 

Slowly, Ben pulled back. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were brightly shining with a beautiful mix of joy and longing. Rey softly traced her index finger along his cheekbone, smiling gently as a shiver shot through his body. He tensed against her, pulling her to him in a fierce embrace as his arm wound around her slender waist. 

“Ben, we don’t have much time,” Rey breathed, breathing in the sudden, crisp scent of his skin. She wrapped her arms around his neck, reluctant to lose the warmth of his touch. “The crystal-“

“Please. Be with me,” he said, half-desperately clinging to her. She held onto him just as fiercely, wrapping her free hand around the back of his neck. The crystal began to vibrate violently, and as it increased in fever pitch, she suddenly released her hold on his neck and kissed him once more. 

He crushed her against his broad chest as she clung to him, drowning in the longing that surged through every inch of her body. The determined gentleness of his touch, the feeling of his hands sliding down her spine and pressing her closer, it still wasn’t enough. 

_I love you._

_I’ll find a way to bring you back, Ben Solo._

Her hand clenched tighter around the kyber crystal, and as she did so, it let out a sudden scream and shattered. Rey barely noticed that her hand was peppered with tiny cuts as Ben’s hard body against hers disappeared. She fell heavily to the ground, breathing hard. She relished the feeling of the cold stone of the cave against her feverish skin; desire still bubbled fiercely inside of her, and she willed it to disperse. After a long moment, she finally felt like she could catch her breath. 

“Are you done yet?” Luke bellowed from below. “Do you want the coordinates to Lothal, or not?!”

Rey glanced around her and spied Ben, who sported a blush so bright that even the brightness of his Force ghost was muted. A breathless laugh escaped her, and she shakily forced herself to her feet. 

“There’s one thing that I want before we go,” Ben murmured, and she spun to face him, suddenly very aware that his heated gaze still drank in every inch of her. The desire that she’d barely managed to stamp down threatened to rise in her belly once more, and she swallowed hard. 

“What is it?”

“If I’m going to have a physical form, we’re going to need a bigger ship,” he grumbled. Rey had to agree as he stood up, straightening to his full height. He towered over her, and she nodded. A smirk danced around the corners of his mouth as he straightened his shirt and ran a hand through his hair. 

“A bigger ship, right,” she said breathlessly. “How do you feel about the Falcon?”

The shy grin that lit up his face was almost as wonderful as kissing him. 

Almost. 

Rey gave the chest of crystals once last glance before she closed the lid and followed Ben back down the hill where Luke sat impatiently waiting for them. 

“We’ll leave in a couple of days."


	4. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is forced to confront a nightmare. Ben meets an old friend of the family, and learns an important lesson.

Lightning flashed, ushering in a booming crash of thunder. Heavy rains and the wild ocean pummelled Ahch-To, sending the temperature plummeting towards freezing. A damp chill swept across the craggy mountain spires of the island. 

The ocean raged below the cliffs where the call of the Force was strongest, and the wind whistled in through the cracks between the door and unforgiving stone wall of the small house where Rey slept. The hut was damp and scented with moss and icy water. 

The tiny, dying fire that Rey had lit several hours earlier in the small firepit in the center of the room sputtered faintly. The tiny, flickering light from the remaining embers disappeared with a quiet hiss and a twisting column of smoke, plunging the room into complete darkness. The storm outside increased in pitch; the rhythm of the rain that drummed steadily against the stone roof grew cacophonous. 

The heart of the island pulsed in time with the storm. 

Rey let out a small, choked sound. Her hand fisted in the blankets that were twisted around her. A fresh crash of lightning and thunder illuminated her shaking form through a small hole in the wall by the door.

“Ben,” Rey whispered brokenly, “I need you.”

Another quiet whimper split through the discord of the tempest, and Ben’s Force ghost flickered into view. 

Rey’s body went taut, and she let out a pained hiss.

“Rey!”

Something was wrong; the fragile balance that existed between the opposing halves of the Force had been lost. The pulse of the island was frantic, and Rey was caught up in it, unable to free herself. 

Ben’s eyes went wide with concern, and he was moving towards Rey’s sleeping form before he’d fully materialized. The power of their dyad swelled within him; Rey was fighting against something that he couldn’t see. 

He darted towards Rey, kneeling down at her bedside without a second of hesitation. His hands shook as he reached towards her, unsure of what ailed her, but determined to ease her suffering. 

Chaos rioted through the bond. Rey’s emotions were suddenly muted as a trickle of oily darkness twisted through the dyad; that scared Ben more than he’d thought possible. 

Rey’s chest heaved, shaking with stuttering breaths as she dreamt. A cold sweat beaded her brow, sending shivers down the length of her shaking body. Her eyelids fluttered; flashing open every few seconds as her nightmare ripped a whimper from her lips. 

“No, no, leave me _alone_ ,” she murmured, shaking her head violently from side to side. “I won’t turn-“

Ben’s voice shook as he pleaded for her to wake up. She was deaf to his call; something stood between him and her conscious mind. 

“Rey, it’s a dream. You’re safe. Wake up,” he called desperately, swearing quietly as his hands passed straight through her shoulders. She flinched away from him, murmuring wordlessly. After one more futile attempt to wake her, Ben’s hopeless expression hardened. He stood abruptly, glancing down at Rey’s still-shivering body. Without making a sound, he darted out the door of the small hut that they shared. 

He had a plan, although he wasn’t sure it would work. Ben took a deep breath, settling into a full sprint; he had to act fast.

* * *

_Rey ran, searching desperately for a shred of light in the endless darkness that threatened to swallow her whole. She skidded to a stop as she came across yet another fork in the labyrinth that trapped her. A disembodied cackle split the air, igniting a bolt of adrenaline in her veins. There was a presence that followed her, nipping at her heels. Rey could feel it gaining on her, and she fought her body’s urge to give into panic. She could taste the coppery tang of fear in her mouth; she needed to move._

_“ **Rey,** ” the unknown creature whispered, “ **You can’t run forever**.”_

_“Watch me!” She snarled, forcing her tired legs to continue. The ache in her muscles centered her, reminded her that she was alive; she would never allow the Dark to overwhelm her, no matter what._

_Rey’s terrified gaze swept over the corridors that flicked past as she ran, but there was no one in the maze with her. Unthinkingly, she reached out in the Force, searching for Ben._

_There was nothing but the darkness._

* * *

“Ben,” Rey whispered, “Be with me.”

Ben heard her nearly silent plea, trickling through the bond. Panic flooded through their connection, and he doubled over as her emotions engulfed him. She was terrified and in pain, and it nearly stopped his heart to be unable to ease her torment. He lengthened his stride, making his way up the hills of Ahch-To far too slowly for his liking. 

He needed to get to the cave.

Ben sucked in a laboured breath, pushing his speed to the limit. His boots made no sound as he sprinted across the rocky terrain of the island, searching for the staircase that led to the top of the island. He poured every ounce of his strength towards the bond; he couldn’t waste a moment. Panic flooded through the connection, and Ben was so caught up in his own fear for Rey that he didn’t know where his uneasiness ended and hers began. His expression hardened, and he let out a furious grunt of effort as he ran. 

He had to help Rey.

* * *

_Rey’s lungs burned fiercely as she doubled her pace, gasping with the effort of pushing her body forwards. She took another corner at top speed, grunting with pain as her skin scraped along the jagged rock wall that divided the two paths. She paused for a moment, desperately fighting to catch her breath as a sudden bolt of lightning flashed above her, blinding her with its merciless, white-hot light._

_She gasped, raising a hand to shield her eyes. The spots in front of her vision refused to clear, no matter how many times she blinked. Rey threw out a hand, reaching out with the Force to see. There was someone standing in front of her, half-hidden in the darkness that pressed in from every side, and she knew immediately who it was. Terror washed through her, wiping away any chance of rational thought._

_She recoiled, throwing her body away from the smug, oily laughter that greeted her. She knew that laugh. It had vibrated through the marrow of her bones on the worst day of her life. Even in death, Emperor Palpatine knew exactly how to pinpoint her weaknesses._

_After all, she couldn’t run away from herself._

_Rey tried in vain to shield her mind using the Light, but the wicked sound seeped straight into every part of her body._

_Ice wound through her veins, steadily sapping the strength from her limbs as the darkness around her snaked upwards, snuffing out what little light there was in the labyrinth._

_Suddenly, the ground under her feet opened up, and she fell. She screamed with shock and fear as she plummeted downwards into the darkness that stretched endlessly below her._

_Rey landed hard, badly bruising every inch of her body as she came into contact with ice cold stone. The air crackled with the metallic tang of lightning, and the acrid scent of sulfur coated the inside of her mouth. She coughed, frantically pulling air into her protesting lungs. Several long moments passed before she felt strong enough to prop herself up._

_Every atom in her body shrieked with protest as she dragged herself into a crouching position._

_She knew exactly where she was; the weight of the darkness that had seeped into the pores of the stone arena on Exegol was a feeling that she would never forget. It was just as she remembered it. The memory had been burned into her mind; echoes of the past trickled out of the foreboding darkness around her._

_Reflexively, Rey flinched as the traumatic events of the Battle of Exegol began to play on a loop in her head; no matter how hard she tried to ignore them, she couldn’t forget the memories that still haunted her._

_The sight of the place where Ben had died made her feel sick; she couldn’t suppress the memory of his lifeless body disappearing from her embrace. She hugged her arms to her chest and fought to keep her wits about her; she wasn’t sure why she was here, but she knew that she wasn’t likely to be alone._

_The Dark side of the force was persistent. Rey had suffered this kind of nightmare before, although the night terrors had never felt this real; something was different. She suspected that Ahch-To had something to do with it; the Force was as strong there as it was on Exegol._

_Slowly, gingerly, she reached out for the Force. She still couldn’t feel Ben, and the fact that he wasn’t with her made a small, insistent tangle of anxiety spin in her stomach. Her gaze slid to her right. Gingerly, she pushed herself to her feet._

_A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the large dais at the far end of the room. Rey took a careful step towards it, on high alert. Her worried gaze raked over the length of the throne room, and she flexed her fingers with nervous anticipation. Slowly, she began to walk towards the platform, although her nerves fired frantically and her bones ached._

_The Sith throne loomed out of the darkness; it felt alive, and it wanted her to move closer. The unyielding stone reacted to her presence, beckoning her towards it._

_**Rey.** _

_**Rey.** _

_**Come closer, look upon your birthright.** _

_Its strange whispers spoke of peace and prosperity, even though the very surface of the stone was pitted with old lightsaber scars. Rey’s eyes narrowed._

_**Aren’t you tired?** _

_“No.”_

_**It must be exhausting, being frightened all the time.** _

_Rey doubled down; there was absolutely no way that she would fall for the Dark and its lies. As if they could sense her determination, the whispers increased in pitch and intensity. The pressure on her mind was relentless and merciless; she clenched her hands into fists._

_“I won’t give in,” she snapped, “I don’t believe you.”_

_**Wouldn’t you like to take control?** _

_The Darkness reached out towards her, brushing against her heart and mind with a touch as cold as iron. Despite her best efforts to block it out, the stone was still able to beckon to Rey, whispering promises of power. Rey refused to submit, even though her mind begged her for respite. Her body trembled with the effort of holding the Dark at bay, and she desperately held her breath as she fought to stay in control._

_It wasn’t until the Dark mentioned Ben that she almost lost her stranglehold on her composure._

_**Have you forgotten the Emperor’s power**? It whispered softly. **Think of how easily you could restore life to the man that you love.**_

_“Stop talking!” She demanded fiercely, reaching for the strength of the Light side. “You cannot make me turn, I’ve made my decision!”_

_The air smelled of death and fear, and the silence that lay heavily in between the Dark’s attempts to draw her closer to the throne was filled with Rey’s thundering heartbeat and panicked breathing. The Light slowly, sluggishly gave her enough strength to resist the whispers. Rey squeezed her eyes shut, frantically searching for calm and balance as flashes of lightning streaked across her closed eyelids. Suddenly, the murmurs stopped._

_Her heartbeat slowed slightly, and Rey finally felt centered enough to open her eyes._

_To let her guard down so easily, even for an instant, had been a mistake._

_She finally opened her eyes, only to come face to face with a doppelganger._

_Dark Rey, the girl that Rey had glimpsed inside the imperial vault so many months ago, had appeared as silently as smoke. She made no sound as she took several measured, lithe steps around the real Rey._

_It appeared as though the Dark had decided to switch tactics._

* * *

Ben darted up the stairwell that led to the small cave at the top of the hill. His long legs flew up the carved steps, taking them two at a time. He stumbled into the cave, having underestimated his speed. Ben’s panicked gaze raked over the pitch-black hole in the rock until he spied what he’d come for; Luke’s hoard of kyber crystals were exactly where they’d been that afternoon. His feet were moving before he’d fully formed a plan; he had to get a crystal to Rey. 

He paid the unyielding stone wall of the grotto no mind as he careened into it, clipping his shoulder on the rough rock wall. He let out a grunt of pain, ignoring the sudden throbbing of his arm as he sprinted towards the small chest that contained the remaining eight kyber crystals. 

He skidded to a halt in front of the silent chest, and without hesitation, he extended his hand. The Force rose up to meet him, singing through his system. He took a deep breath and jerked his hand upwards. 

With a shriek of protest, the chest’s lock burst open, revealing its precious cargo. Ben dredged up as much Light as he could and reached for the crystals, hoping against all hope that he would be able to touch one. 

His relief was immediate as his half-translucent hand closed around a kyber crystal. It roared to life, tinkling quietly in his hand as he let out a sudden, shocked laugh. Immediately, his expression hardened into one of determination, and he turned on his heel, running full tilt down the hill to where Rey still slept, trapped within a nightmare conjured by the Dark. 

“Ben, over here.”

The sudden voice that came from right behind him was so jarring that he couldn’t focus on Rey. 

Ben stopped in his tracks, completely shaken; a flickering presence in the Force mercilessly pulled his attention to his left. His head snapped to the side, and a shocked intake of breath was his only reaction to the newcomer. The old man stepped closer, effectively barring Ben’s path down the hill. 

Ben’s hand tightened unconsciously around the crystal. He shifted his body weight in anticipation of a confrontation, but the older man simply chuckled good-naturedly. Confusion swirled through Ben’s veins, clouded by his anxiety for Rey. 

“Who the hell are you?” He demanded, reaching to his side for a tether of the Force. Power whispered through his veins, curling around his fingers as he waited for the strange new presence to explain himself. 

He was disappointed in himself for hoping that the old man was Anakin, but he knew in the marrow of his bones that this man was a stranger to him. Somewhat bitterly, Ben ignored the flicker of hope that had sprung to life in his chest. When only silence greeted his question, he shrugged and centered his weight, ready to barrel through the Force ghost if he had to.

“That won’t be necessary. I think it’s past time that you and I met.”

He’d never met or seen his namesake before, but the Force ghost who stood before him was too strangely familiar to be anyone else. 

“Obi-Wan,” Ben murmured, staring at the kindly old man with no small measure of shock. “How-“

“You know that no one is really dead, Ben,” Obi-Wan replied, lacing his fingers together and rewarding Ben with a small smile. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment. You’re finally ready to hear me.”

“I don’t have time for this right now,” Ben said abruptly, looking past the Force ghost; he was itching to continue his task. “I can’t leave Rey. If you know what I’m doing, then you know what she’s going through-“

“She needs to find the strength to free herself from the grasp of the Dark side,” Obi-Wan said sharply, raising one eyebrow. “You cannot fight this battle for her.”

“The hell I can’t,” Ben growled, clenching his fists and glaring at the old Jedi. “I have to find a way to help her-“

“I didn’t say that you couldn’t lend her your strength,” Old Ben said pointedly, “I’ve come to help, not be berated.”

“You could have started with that,” Ben grumbled, half-dancing in place as nervous energy coursed through him. “I don’t have time to sit and talk. I get that you’re here to help, but I need to get back to Rey-”

“You’ve always been just like your grandfather, Ben,” Kenobi chuckled, “Always so eager to rush towards danger. Rey needs to learn to rely on her own strength, not just that of your dyad. You have great power together, but you must also be able to stand on your own.”

Ben just stared at him. For possibly the first time in his adult life, he decided that he didn’t give a shit about Anakin. The mention of a long-dead man didn’t matter when the woman that he loved was suffering. The kyber pulsed frantically in his palm, and he darted a glance down at it. “I need to be with her. Don’t get in my way.”

Obi-Wan chuckled. “Remember what I told you, Ben. Strength cannot grow without adversity; you cannot shoulder the burden of her battle against the seduction of the Dark. Just as she waited for you, you must let her defend her choice on her own.”

“Maybe not,” Ben admitted lowly, “But I won’t let her suffer the way that I did. I was alone and lost, and the people that I loved left me there. I won’t ever let her feel that way. Move.”

Kenobi surveyed him for a moment, his expression inscrutable. Finally, with a small smile, he stepped aside. 

“We’ll meet again, Ben. May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you,” Ben murmured automatically, already turning away. The words tasted like sawdust in his mouth, but he ignored the ember of hurt that he nursed in his belly and continued down the hill without a second glance. 

Kenobi’s glowing form grew fainter as his Force ghost shimmered away into nothing. His final remark was lost in the howling wind as Ben fought to return to Rey. The island buffeted him with wind and rain, but he stubbornly continued onwards. The kyber pulsed frantically in his hand, and Ben doubled his pace. 

Ben sprinted across the gravel paths of the small village. He darted a glance at the crystal that sat solidly in his palm, relishing a small, sudden glimmer of hope that he held close to his heart. 

"Hold on, Rey." 

* * *

“You were right, old friend,” Kenobi murmured, turning to his right. “He inherited the Skywalker penchant for heroics.”

Luke’s expression was nothing short of exasperated. “And the dramatics. He’d never listen to that advice from me.”

“With good reason, Luke,” Kenobi said slowly, raising one eyebrow as he turned his stern expression on Luke. “You cannot fault him for his lack of trust in you.”

“I don’t have to like it, either,” Luke muttered. He waved a hand, gesturing towards the blue halo that marked Ben’s rapid path down the side of the craggy island. “But who am I to tell him what he can do? He made it clear that I’m not as wise as I should be. I would help Rey if I could, but my hands are tied.”

“No one is as wise as they should be,” Kenobi chuckled. His steady gaze watched Ben until he disappeared around a bend in the path. “There is so much of his grandfather in him.”

“In his connection to the Force, you mean?”

“Yes, among other things. He’s stronger in death than I expected. He affects the world around him nearly as powerfully as Master Yoda does,” Old Ben said thoughtfully, scratching absentmindedly at his beard. “Do they know about the World Between Worlds? It’s one thing to be a Force dyad, but quite another thing entirely to be able to affect each other so powerfully-”

“No, they don’t,” Luke said shortly. His stern expression softened. “They’re on the right track to figuring it out. They’ll need to rely on each other to harness their potential.”

“Clever of you to give them your kybers,” Ben chuckled, turning to leave. “I look forward to their journey, I expect that they'll go where the bond leads them.”

“Even we don’t know where that might be,” Luke muttered, “This bond between them is unprecedented. Their abilities make them unique in the Force.”

“So were you, and your grandfather. The Force will guide them, but they must forge their own path.”

“Stop being so enigmatic, Ben. They’re young, and they’re reckless. It’s even worse because they’re in love-“

“You’ve grown cynical, Luke.”

“I’ve grown old. Things get clearer.”

“Will Rey be strong enough to resist the Dark?”

Luke sighed. “Yes. She helped Ben return home. No one that stubborn can be turned.”

“We can only hope. I once thought that Anakin was strong enough.”

Luke's expression hardened. "He was strong enough when it mattered most. Ben knows what he needs to do. We have to have hope that they'll resist the seduction of the Dark." 

* * *

_Rey gasped, scrambling backwards as she watched the strangely beautiful creature pace around her. She resembled Rey just enough for her to recognize who she was, but she was cold, angular. There was no softness, nothing that implied that she was human._

_“ **You’ve been denying me for too long, Rey** ,” the peculiar creature whispered. “ **Welcome home**.”_

_The clone fixed Rey with a stare so intense that Rey felt her skin begin to crawl. She reflexively reached for her weapon, but her hand closed on empty air; she didn’t have her lightsaber. The real Rey’s expression hardened._

_“Why are you here?”_

_Dark Rey simply smiled gently. “ **You haven’t allowed me to speak to you. Ahch-To is a place of balance, so I’m stronger here. You let me in. Consider me a messenger**.”_

_“I didn’t,” Rey insisted, hoping that she sounded less unsure than she felt. Her voice felt frustratingly small._

_“ **I couldn’t reach you if you weren’t listening for the call of the Dark side** ,” was the condescending reply. Rey watched with bated breath as her strange double reached up and lowered her hood. _

_Long, curled hair tumbled down her back, and Rey’s brow furrowed at the strangely feminine sight. There was no way that this version of her fought on a regular basis, not with elaborately styled hair and immaculate nails; something didn’t add up._

_“What do you want?” She whispered, preparing herself for a fight. The clone laughed softly, and shivers erupted on the back of Rey’s neck at the menacing sound._

_“ **What do I want? What do you want?”** Dark-Rey murmured, stepping down off of the pitted stone dais so that she was at eye-level with Rey. “ **Look at you, your hold on the Light was so fragile**. **A little dream like this was enough to send you careening towards the Dark. Our friends can’t help you here.”**_

_Her voice was soft, her tone pitying. Her voice sounded like velvet-wrapped steel; there was just enough malice in her softly murmured words to set Rey’s teeth on edge. Her hands tensed at her sides, and she subtly reached for the Light. Finding a handhold felt like trying to drag a weight upwards through water, but she hardened her will and doubled her efforts. Slowly, almost too slowly, the Force responded to her. Sluggishly, it whispered through her body._

_“My friends,” Rey corrected furiously, “You have nothing to do with them.”_

_“ **But I’m you** ,” Dark-Rey insisted, grinning innocently, “ **We’re the same person, except that you’re too stubborn to realize that you’re wasting our potential. You’ve always been afraid of what we could do**.”_

_“We aren’t the same!”_

_“ **You’re right** ,” Dark Rey said thoughtfully, absentmindedly twirling her dormant lightsaber around in her hands. “ **I’m all of the Sith, and you are some of the Jedi. That makes you weaker than me.”**_

_“I’m not weak,” Rey hissed, feeding into the storm of fear and adrenaline that still raged in her veins. Something buried deep inside her reared its ugly head, and she bit back a bolt of white-hot fury. Her anger couldn’t help her now, not when the Darkness raised her head and looked Rey right in the eye._

_“ **No? Look at us.** **I ascended to my rightful place as Empress of the Sith, but you’re the same scavenging gutter-rat that you’ve always been.** ”_

_Rey’s mouth curled upwards into a snarl, and she redistributed her weight, ignoring the way that her muscles protested her every move._

_“I’ve beat you before, I’ll do it again.”_

_“ **You’re so sure of yourself. I almost admire that about you**. **I think you’ll find that things are different now. I can’t be killed, not unless you want to destroy us both.** ”_

_Another shriek of lightning revealed what the Dark Rey really was; a monster._

_The clone’s eyes blazed yellow and the bright scarlet of fresh blood flooded over her irises. A mocking smile danced around the corners of her mouth, revealing pointed teeth that glistened in the strobing light of the solar flares that strobed through the arena where they stood. Her long, spidery fingers tapped the hilt of her double lightsaber, which she carried in her hand._

_“So you want to turn me, is that it?” Rey spat, ignoring the frantic thumping of her heart against her ribs._

_“ **Yes.”**_

_“I will not turn from the Light!”_

_Rey’s fingers twitched towards her side, but she forced her hand away; she carried no blade in this nightmare._

_Dark-Rey straightened and tilted her head to the side, studying Rey with no small measure of confusion. “ **I’m already a part of you, Rey. You cannot deny me.”**_

_“I’m allied with the Light. You can’t change that.”_

**_“No, but we can fix your mistakes. Cast away the past; kill it at the root if you have to-”_ **

_“Get out of my head,” Rey snarled. She finally found the strength to move, and she did, although her knees trembled violently. She paced several steps away from the still smirking woman. “I caught a glimpse of you and resisted the Dark. We won on Exegol-“_

_Dark-Rey laughed. Rey’s eyebrows shot upwards as the strange clone doubled over with the force of her mirth. For a split-second, Rey caught a glimpse of the creature underneath the Dark. There was nothing but hatred and pain underneath the guise that she wore. She was nothing but a puppet for the Dark side, a weapon carefully designed to break Rey._

_“Why are you laughing?” Rey demanded._

_“ **You’ve always been so short-sighted** ,” Dark-Rey purred, taking a step towards Rey. “ **You can’t defeat the Dark. The best that you can hope for is to keep me at bay. You can’t rely on your precious balance without me.”**_

_“Shut up!”_

**_“Look at you; you’re so angry that you’re dancing close to the tipping point. It won’t take much for you to turn_ ** _. **Don’t be afraid of me. I’m what you can become-** ” _

_“Never,” Rey insisted. Her hands were clenched so tightly at her side that she could feel her heartbeat stuttering through the thin skin of her palm. “I won’t-“_

_“ **You’ll never be a true Jedi. Listen to the anger that flows in your veins. Your saber is proof enough; you can’t separate yourself from who you really are** -“_

_Rey snapped. She lunged towards her enemy, drawing on her anger to hurl a large mass of jagged stone towards the cloaked figure. Dark Rey laughed, dodging the missile with ease as she bore down on Rey._

_Her lightsaber let out a loud snap as she ignited it and swing it in one smooth motion into a downwards strike. The powerful, double-bladed staff whirred and shrieked as she spun it straight towards Rey’s head. At the last second, Rey used every ounce of strength in her body to stop the blades mid-swing; her hand stopped the violently oscillating weapon in mid-air, a scant few inches from the exposed skin of her neck._

_The unstable nature of the dominated kyber crystal that powered the blade made it more dangerous; the raw edge of the sword flickered madly, radiating a menacing heat that threatened to sear her skin. Her arm trembled with the effort of holding the blade; her arms trembled violently as Dark Rey countered her strength by bearing down on the weapon. The sword began to move, one scant millimeter at a time, towards Rey’s body._

_Rey roared with effort and threw her will towards her doppelganger. The concussion blast produced by her fierce attack was enough to foil the first attempt on her life; Rey clenched her jaw and prepared her mind to fight._

_Dark Rey laughed wildly as she was thrown backwards. She hit a stone column with enough force to crack the black marble, and Rey flinched at the sound of shattering bone. Cracks quickly spiderwebbed up the length of the pillar; the sound of marble cracking rent the air. The cavernous room rang like a bell as the colossal statue of an unnamed Sith that sat at the top of the pillar snapped off of its roost and plummeted towards them. Rey’s eyes widened, and she threw herself out of the way._

_Dark Rey slid down the stone carving, shaking with mirth as she impatiently wiped blood from her mouth. She didn’t seem to care that she was in imminent danger._

_Rey’s eyes widened as the power that ghosted over the clone’s skin began to move with renewed fervour; the pain was making her stronger. She didn’t have time to launch a new attack as the tonne of stone that made up the remains of the statue collided with the ground. The resulting cacophony was loud enough to stun Rey for a split-second. She clapped her hands over her ears and turned away as the echoes of the impact rattled her teeth._

_The floor shook violently. Jagged cracks raced along the length of the rough stone floor. Rey was forced to dance from broken stone to broken stone as the floor buckled and heaved from the explosion._

_Rey threw another large stone across the room, unsure what her plan was, but determined to keep her doppelganger occupied while her brain frantically whirred._

_The Dark clone batted the stone away as if it posed no more danger than a fly. She countered Rey’s attack with a furious barrage of shrapnel; Rey was forced to take refuge behind a pillar._

_“ **Weak**!” _

_“Stop. Talking!” Rey roared, sprinting towards the abandoned saber staff that had rolled across the ground to perch precariously on a sharp outcropping of stone. Dark Rey anticipated her path and tackled Rey to the ground._

_“ **That’s it** ,” Dark Rey hissed, “ **Embrace your anger!** ” _

_Her staff rolled along the rough stone floor, forgotten, as Rey and the clone fought for dominance. The throne room trembled from the pull of the Force. Dark Rey threw her hand out as she spun, kicking Rey solidly in the chest. A rattling to Rey’s right alerted her to the fact that the clone was calling her weapon. In a frantic attempt to intervene, Rey stepped backwards, reaching out with the Force._

_She didn’t see the hole behind her. Her ankle slid into the small depression, and she stumbled. Her back hit the cold stone, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She struggled to breathe as she scrambled to her feet, fighting against the wave of pain that shot through her spine._

_The clone laughed softly as her staff shot into her hand. With a small click, she ignited the kyber crystals. Two jagged, scarlet lightsaber blades crackled to life._

_Rey didn’t even have time to gasp before the topmost blade was swung directly at her head._

* * *

Ben slid to a stop in front of the hut, breathing hard. The kyber pulsed in his hand like a second heartbeat as he shouldered the small metal door open and ducked inside. Rey tossed and turned, still trapped within her nightmare. Her entire body shook with tension; he’d only seen her in this much agony once before, and that fight had resulted in her death. 

There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that if it came down to it, he would give up his life for hers again. Ben glanced around for Luke, or Anakin, or even his mother, but they were alone. He ignored his pang of frustration and hurt and decided to act; he didn’t want to waste another second waiting for help that may not come. 

He dropped to his knees beside her, reaching out to brush a sweat-soaked curl from her face. She sucked in a breath at his touch, and the deep furrow lines etched into her taut face eased slightly. 

Obi-Wan’s warning echoed in his ears; he let out a frustrated huff of acceptance. The Dark pressed in from all sides, and he clenched his jaw, determinedly ignoring its whispers. 

“I’m here, Rey,” Ben murmured, leaning towards her until his elbows lay on the bed. He pressed the kyber into his palm and quickly snagged her left wrist. “Hang on.”

He was too worried and determined to pay attention to his body’s reaction to the feeling of her soft skin against his. Ben laced his fingers with hers; anxiously holding her hand as the kyber crystal began to sing, reacting fiercely to their bond. 

“Come on, work!” He urged, willing his body to become a conduit for the Force. The Light streamed through his body, rustling through his hair and igniting a twisting rush of warmth in his veins. Ben threw every last atom of his will and determination into the bond. Immediately, he felt the pull of Rey’s mind. 

Without any hesitation or doubt, he surrendered to the pull of the Light. For a brief moment, there was nothing, and then his mind’s eye exploded with sudden brilliance. There was a sensation of falling, and then there was darkness.

* * *

_He opened his eyes to see Exegol._

_Ben fought the urge to let out a bitter laugh; it was all so clear now, why Rey was trapped. The Force swirled around him, centering him and sweeping away all of the fear that curled in his belly. He let go of all control and focused on Rey._

_She was alive, and fighting. He saw through her eyes for a split-second, and his jaw dropped as he caught sight of a strange Dark version of Rey. She was attacking the real Rey with a ferocity that he knew too well, and he was forced to blink as her jagged scarlet lightsaber blade flashed across his line of sight._

_The vision cleared._

_A sudden weight in his hand calmed his anxious thoughts immediately. Reflexively, his fingers closed around the object and he instinctively pressed the small button that lay under his thumb; the fit was perfect, almost as if this weapon had been made to accommodate his large hand._

_A click echoed through the enormous room where he stood, and the golden brilliance of Rey’s lightsaber illuminated the path ahead of him. The buzzing of the plasma blade was music to his ears as he raised the saber, staring at it with no small measure of awe and disbelief._

_“Know what needs to be done, you do,” a strange voice within the Light whispered, “There can be no Light without the Dark. Find balance in the Force, Rey must.”_

_The Light urged him forwards; he knew where he needed to go. Rey’s presence shone like a beacon in the direction of the throne room. Without conscious thought, Ben began to sprint towards her._

_Ben wasn’t afraid. He knew what he had to do, and for the first time, he knew that he had the strength to do it._

_“I’m with you.”_

_Rey’s golden lightsaber spun between his fingers as he ran. His footsteps echoed off of the rough stone path that led towards the throne room._

* * *

_Rey panted hard as she rolled out of the way of another blow. The crackling red lightsaber slammed into the ground behind her, inches from her exposed back. It hissed and bubbled, melting a long mark into the ground. The floor shone red-hot as the weapon sank into the boiling molten rock. Rey threw a hand out, focusing all of her effort into keeping the weapon where it was as she scrambled well out of reach. The melted stone cooled quickly, effectively embedding one end of the double-saber in the floor._

_Dark Rey let out a snarl of frustration and with a fluid move, unhinged the handle of her weapon, revealing that her staff was really two lightsabers connected together. She left one blade where it was, choosing instead to launch herself at Rey, spinning her newly freed weapon around her head so quickly that it was only a screeching, scarlet blur. The abandoned saber clattered to the ground, inert once more as its connection to its twin blade was snuffed out._

_The corner of Rey’s mouth ticked upwards; her clone had reacted the exact same way that Rey herself would have. As Dark Rey darted closer, Rey took a deep breath and reached towards the abandoned saber. It rattled where it lay, dormant on the ground, before sliding half a foot towards Rey. She doubled her effort, skidding across the ground in an attempt to avoid the blow aimed at her exposed side._

_So quickly that she almost missed it, Dark Rey let out a huff of triumph and pivoted, switching the angle of her blade. She spun in a tight circle with the blade at chest height, effectively transforming the plasma blade into an unstoppable scythe._

_Rey’s eyes widened. She threw her body into a graceful evasive manoeuver, angling her torso down and away from the buzzing blade that passed a scant inch over her face. Her spine ached fiercely, but she ignored her gasp of pain and directed her will towards her clone’s right foot. The Force sang through her hand, yanking Dark Rey’s foot off the ground and upsetting her careful balance._

_The real Rey anchored her body weight on her left hand and swept her right leg out in a powerful kick that sent her clone tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs and her long cloak. Rey scrambled away from the still-wildly spinning lightsaber and launched her body into a quick somersault. Her hold on the Force finally came to fruition as her will brought the second saber shooting into her hand._

_Her carefully controlled intake of breath was lost in the din of her rapidly beating heartbeat._

_In one fluid, instinctive movement, Rey spun to face her doppelganger, activating the scarlet blade. With no hesitation, she brought it up in a defensive stance and readied herself for another attack._

_Dark Rey laughed maniacally, shaking her head. Rey grinned in response, relishing the reaction from her opponent; if she could catch her off balance, she could win this fight._

_She’d completely forgotten that this was a dream; all that mattered was survival._

_Rey wasn’t kept waiting long. She parried and dodged, spinning smoothly into one sword stance and then another, tapping into the frantically flickering Light that sputtered to life inside of her. Lightning flashed and screeched around them as they fought, scattering red-hot sparks all over the ice-cold ground._

_A solar wind swept through the broken throne room, forcing them to take cover behind the Sith throne. Dark Rey extended her hand, screaming with effort as she attempted to force Rey out from behind their makeshift shelter. Lighting flashed around them, inexplicably drawn to the Force that rushed through their bodies._

_Rey refused to move, throwing her arms up to shield her body as she unleashed a torrent of the Force. The two women struggled, each refusing to submit to the other. The planet itself shook as the Force shrieked around them; they pulled at the very fabric of Exegol as the warring sides of Rey’s will threatened to tear her apart._

_After a moment, the wind abated, and Rey glanced to the side. Dark Rey glared at her, using the split-second calm to call on the Force to yank Rey’s body towards her. Rey struggled against the pull of the Dark, anchoring herself against the throne in response. Her whole body trembled with the effort, but she raised her head to look the Dark in the eye. She didn’t say a word, but Dark Rey’s eyes narrowed and she bared her jagged teeth._

_“ **Yield!** ” Dark Rey demanded raggedly, pulling with all of her strength as Rey pushed with every inch of effort that she could dredge up from her tired muscles. _

_“Never!” She snarled, releasing her hold suddenly and allowing her momentum to help her shoot towards her clone. Sith and Jedi collided once more, each attempting to body the other up as both sides of the Force struggled to gain the advantage over the other. Rey grunted with effort, pulling her weapon back so that she could thrust the point of her weapon into the split-second gap between Dark Rey’s elbow and her shoulder._

_Her blow rang true, and Dark Rey screamed with frustration and pain as the saber burned a swath of glowing, seared flesh into her forearm. Rey pulled her blow back, spinning her saber around her hand in anticipation of the countermove; she wasn’t disappointed._

_The fierce battle continued, and the scant seconds between lightning strikes was filled with the keening of whirling lightsabers. Rey panted hard, hoping against all hope that her strength would hold out._

_Rey grunted with effort as she blocked yet another powerful overhand strike. The force of the blow reverberated through her bones, and she had to clench her muscles to keep from flinching away._

_“ **You can’t fight me forever** ,” Dark Rey hissed, baring her sharp teeth. Her voice had lost all of its softness; it was now as harsh as rending metal. “ **Look at what we’re capable of**! **Revel in it!** ”_

_“You won’t break me!” Rey snarled, letting loose a frustration-filled cry of effort as she freed her blade. She feinted to the side and dropped to one knee, inserting herself under Dark Rey’s guard. She buried her saber up to the hilt, yelling with effort._

_The scream that vibrated down the length of the blade shocked Rey so badly that she nearly dropped the saber. It quickly morphed into a bitter laugh as the Darkness’ messenger fell to her knees, dragging the real Rey along with her. Her pale, spidery hands scrabbled uselessly against the hilt of the saber. Rey couldn’t think of anything to say; she was torn between feeling relieved and triumphant and horrified that she’d just doomed herself. Her chest burned fiercely; it hurt exactly where she’d stabbed Dark Rey._

_“ **So much fury and strength lives in us** ,” Dark Rey said softly, reaching up to touch Rey’s hand where it still clutched at her saber. “ **You were made for the Dark**.”_

_“I wasn’t,” Rey insisted, fighting against the wave of sorrow that threatened to engulf her._

_She understood now._

_“ **You could have made a life with the man that you love** ,” Dark Rey murmured, coughing as blood dripped down her pale neck. “ **But you fought alone, and it killed you both. Had you chosen the Dark, he would have ruled with you as your consort** -“_

_She cut off as a fit of pained coughing wracked her form. Blood dripped on the stone floor, and Rey jerked her blade away, dropping it on the floor with a heavy thud as she stood frozen, horrified by what she had done. The saber deactivated with a loud click. Without conscious thought, she reached towards Dark Rey, somehow instinctively afraid that killing her would spell both of their undoing._

_It was that one moment of kindness that the Dark had been waiting for._

_Rey screamed with pain as her clone’s clawed hand gripped onto the sensitive skin between her neck and shoulder. A dangerously large portion of her vital energy was sucked out of her body as Dark Rey mercilessly turned the power of the Dark side on Rey. She scrabbled on the floor for her weapon and frantically pressed the power button, swinging her arm up._

_Just in the nick of time, Dark Rey released her hold and skipped backwards, grinning as her injury steamed, growing smaller by the second. “ **What did I say about weakness? You Jedi never learn!”**_

_"You always try and turn me with the same argument! When will you Sith learn that love is not weakness?!" Rey snarled, sprinting towards Dark Rey. She flung herself into the air, grabbing onto the copy's shoulder and throwing her to the ground. Rey flashed a savage grin; Ben had taught her a few moves. Clearly caught off guard, Dark Rey quickly scrambled to her feet; the fight was back on._

_Rey threw herself into the battle; she fought for everything and everyone that she had left._

_She couldn’t kill her doppelganger, Rey now knew that all she had to do was create an opening and escape._

_Rey swung, parried, and thrust her saber through intricate sword forms, searching desperately for an opening. Dark Rey seemed to anticipate her movements, and countered every move with a strength that frightened Rey._

_Time seemed to slow, and as Rey raised her saber to block another powerful overhand strike, Dark Rey twisted her wrist and slid her lightsaber along the length of Rey’s blade. Rey gasped, dropping her saber to avoid having her hand sliced off, and twisted to the side, holding her hand below her hip to catch the dropped saber._

_The successful maneuver that she’d pulled off in Snoke’s throne room didn’t work this time, as Dark Rey used her lightsaber to casually bat Rey’s weapon away. Rey’s heart flew into her stomach as the second lightsaber clattered into the darkness and finally rolled off the edge of the bottomless chasm that lay at the other end of the room._

_Rey scrambled backwards out of reach as her clone shrugged and held out a hand, palm up. She was eerily calm now, and Rey felt the whispers of the dark ghosting over her skin._

_“ **You can’t win. You can’t beat your other half** ,” Dark Rey purred, “ **Wouldn’t it just be better to take my hand and embrace the power that flows within you**?”_

_“No,” Rey whispered, taking another exhausted step backwards._

_“ **You know what you need to do. All that you have to do is turn, and the man that you love will be returned to you** ,” Dark Rey purred, waving a hand, “ **No more crystals, no more false hope. You’ll be together, forever**.”_

_A writhing, smoke-like figure twisted up from the ground as she beckoned. A pulse of Darkness sent a shiver of disgust down Rey’s spine, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the man who stepped out of the smoke. He wasn’t Ben._

_Kylo Ren stood beside the clone, impassive and foreboding._

_“That’s not who he is,” Rey snapped, “I never wanted Kylo Ren-“_

_“ **You would doom the man you love to a cursed half life because you're afraid,** ” Dark Rey simpered, laughing softly at the anguish written all over Rey’s face. “ **It’s the only way that we’ll be happy. You know I’m right**.”_

_“Stop talking! Leave me alone,” Rey said sharply, glaring at her doppelganger through a blurry veil of tears. “I’ve already made my choice-“_

_The shadowy figure who stood in front of her made an impatient sound and waved her hand._

_“ **Then I’ll just have to take your place.** ”_

_The mirage of Kylo Ren crumbled into dust as she exploded towards Rey. Her lightsaber screamed as she ignited it, whistling through the air. A faint buzzing sound echoed behind Rey, but she was too distracted to notice it. It grew louder with each passing second, shooting towards Rey and her shadowy opponent._

_Ben!_

_Rey’s thoughts screamed, reaching desperately for her other half. Her call had been entirely unconscious, but a flicker of life within the dyad made her head snap up. She wasn't alone._

_Rey threw a hand up, reaching out with the Force to stop the blow that fell towards her, but as the plasma weapon came within a foot of her body, it exploded against something that she couldn’t see. Rey yelped with surprise and pain as she was showered with sparks._

_Light swept through Rey, affording her enough strength to repel the Darkness. With a cry of effort, she forced her clone backwards. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock as she realized what had just happened; someone had interfered in the fight._

_She knew that sound; the buzzing of dueling lightsabers was unmistakable. The golden light emitted by her weapon shone brightly in the darkness around them as it fell towards the ground. The Force pulsed frantically around Rey, and a small, hesitant smile traced its way across her mouth._

_Reflexively, Rey’s thoughts centered on Ben; she couldn’t explain it, but she knew that he was close._

_She wasn’t alone in the darkness anymore. He’d found a way to break through the nightmare that surrounded her._

_Her saber clattered to the ground beside her hand. It rolled towards her, stopping against her thigh. She stared at it for a moment before she slowly reached down and wrapped her fingers around the hilt._

_“ **How** -“ Dark Rey snarled, snapping her head around to look at something that Rey couldn’t see. “ **Get out, traitor**!”_

_“Rey.”_

_She flinched, darting a confused glance upwards. Rey knew, in the very marrow of her bones that it was Ben who whispered to her. The distant voice repeated her name, growing stronger with every frantic beat of her heart. The dyad flowed through her, revitalizing every inch of her body._

_“Fight, Rey. I’m with you.”_

_“Ben,” Rey breathed, staring into the distance. She could feel the beating of his heart, the burning of exhausted breaths in his lungs, and the wind whipping through his hair as he frantically searched for her. The warm, steady flickering of his feelings for her washed through the bond, wiping away every last trace of fear. The strength of the dyad poured into her veins as the illusion was shattered, and Rey reached for the Force. Her blade sang as she swung it upwards into a defensive stance._

_“Use my strength,” Ben urged her, “Focus on the Light!”_

_He materialized out of the darkness, sprinting towards her. The warmth and relief in his gaze sent a burst of strength through her body, revitalizing every tired muscle. The frequency of their dyad rose to a crescendo as she reached for the Force. The painful memories of Exegol were swept away as she turned to face the Darkness, more sure than she had ever been that they would win this fight, together._

_Her heart beat steadily against her ribs as she let out a long, calming breath. Somewhere, in between the sorrow and the pain, at the very centre of her passion and her focus, she found balance. Hope flared to life in her breast._

_Power thundered through her palms, and she allowed it to seep through her body._

_She finally raised her head. Her gaze was cold, merciless as she caught the messenger of the Dark in her sights._

_“You want me to hate, but I won’t,” she snarled, darting a hand out to the side. “Get out of my head!”_

_Adrenaline and fury raged through Rey’s body. With a roar of effort, she dredged up the Light. The shadow world that so closely resembled Exegol began to crack. The Dark clone screamed, flinching away from the fissures that shot along the stone slabs beneath them. Blindingly bright light streamed through the gaps, illuminating the throne room with an unearthly glow._

_Ben stood behind her, lending her his strength as she ripped her nightmare apart at the seams. Dark Rey turned to flee, tripping and stumbling as the floor crumbled. A beam of bright light shone across her prone form, and she screeched, struggling away as quickly as she could._

_Rey glanced at Ben, who simply nodded at her. His expression was so full of trust and determination that she didn’t need him to say a word; they’d never needed words to communicate anyways. Rey took a deep breath and offered her hand. He flashed a small grin and took it, lacing his fingers with hers._

_Strength poured through her body as Rey and Ben walked towards her mirror image. Even her skin had begun to crack, and Rey felt a pang of pity as she regarded the once proud creature born of fear and shadow._

_She no longer looked monstrous. Her teeth were no longer wickedly pointed, and her eyes had lost their scarlet hue. Large hazel eyes, wide with terror, raked over Ben and Rey instead, welling up with tears as the Dark attempted to hide itself from the Light that still shone brightly from the cracks in the nightmare._

_Warmth trickled through the once ice-cold throne room, and what was once an image of Exegol shattered, revealing the inside of a stone temple that Rey had never seen before._

_Rey knelt down beside the creature that so desperately scrambled away from the light that streamed from her skin._

_“I’m sorry,” Rey murmured, reaching out towards her mirror image. “All this time, you were waiting for me to learn the truth. You are a part of me, just like the Light.”_

**_“No, you cannot turn your back on me_ ** _-“_

_“I won’t. Because of you, I have balance,” Rey said simply, grasping Dark Rey’s hand. “Thank you.”_

_Something inside of her clicked into place; balance swept through the Force._

_With a sharp cry, the Darkness exploded into dust. The whispers that tormented Rey abruptly stopped as she stood up._

_Ben stood solidly behind her, regarding her with so much pride that she couldn’t help the smile that curled over her mouth. "You didn't really need me."_

_“Ben,” she breathed, “How-“_

_“Wake up. I’ll come and tell you,” he said firmly, reaching out to her. She gladly took his hand and closed her eyes as the shadow world crumbled around them._

* * *

The sudden silence that fell over Ahch-To was deafening. The rain tapered off to nothing more than a drizzle, and the wind ceased to howl as if a switch had been flipped. The ocean calmed, rising and falling gently against the stone cliffs as the storm evaporated. 

Rey’s eyes snapped open, and her gaze locked onto Ben’s. He was on his knees by her bedside, and her jaw dropped as she felt the core of the kyber crystal that he still held between their interlocked hands fluttering in time with her heartbeat. 

“Ben,” she breathed, darting a wild glance around her. “What-“

“You’re safe,” he murmured. “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” she replied shakily, sucking several much needed deep breaths into her lungs. 

Slowly, he let go of her hand and sat on the bed beside her. His expression was a conflicting mixture of affection and relief, and she felt a tear slip down her cheek. 

“You found me,” she murmured, slowly reaching out to gently cup his face in her palm. He leaned into her touch; his dark eyes were soft with adoration as he brushed a curl away from her face. The kyber still pulsed in his hand, but it didn’t seem to be in danger of breaking yet. 

“I told you that you aren’t alone,” he replied, reaching for her as she shifted closer. “I couldn’t sit here and do nothing. She tortured you-”

“She _is_ me,” Rey whispered, unable to stop a flood of tears from spilling down her cheeks. “She and I both exist, and I can’t kill her without destroying myself.”

“Rey, I’ve had voices in my head for _years_. The Dark is always searching for a way in-“

“I have an affinity for the Dark, Ben. I made my choice, but I still feel the pull of the Darkness. I _won’t_ turn.”

Rey fell silent as she caught sight of the tortured cast to Ben’s eyes. She reached out and brushed her thumb along his cheekbone, breathing a sigh of relief when he turned his head and pressed a soft kiss to her palm. 

“Please understand. I have to find balance,” she whispered softly, “The island’s connection to the Force was too strong for me to resist. Once we leave, I’ll be fine.”

He nodded, lacing his fingers with hers. “I’m with you. I’ll help you, just like you helped me.”

“Ben?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you for trusting me,” she breathed, clutching onto him with all of her strength. Ben’s warm arms held her tight, and he buried his face in the junction between her neck and her shoulder. Rey shivered as his warm lips brushed across her pulse point. 

“I love you,” he murmured, holding onto her as if his life depended on it. 

“And I you. Forever and always,” Rey admitted, drawing back slightly. She waited just long enough to see the shining emotion in his dark eyes before she pressed closer and caught his lips with hers. Ben immediately responded to her touch, cradling her jaw between his wide palms as he gently kissed her back. She slid her hands into his soft hair, sighing happily at the feel of him. 

Her heartbeat skyrocketed, making her feel delightfully lightheaded as their kiss slowly deepened. With no warning, the kyber began to shudder, making Rey pull back from the kiss with a gasp. 

“Ben, the crystal-“

“I know. We’ll fix this,” he said firmly, kissing her quickly one last time before the kyber screamed and cracked in two. Oddly enough, it didn’t shatter this time. 

Something was off about it, but Rey was too preoccupied to focus on that odd little detail. Ben sighed, running a hand over his hair. There was so much frustration and impatience in the sound that Rey had to agree. 

Rey stared at the broken crystal for a long moment before she raised her gaze back to Ben’s. “We’ll get the Falcon, and then we’ll make our way to Lothal.”

“To Lothal,” he agreed. 

He sported a strange half-smirk on his mouth that piqued Rey’s curiosity. “What?”

“Have you met Ben Kenobi?”

Rey’s jaw dropped. “No! What-“

“I’ll tell you about it on the way to Ajan Kloss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So I know this chapter is really different, but I wanted to explore the idea that Rey has both some very serious PTSD and unresolved issues with the Dark side after what happened on Exegol. I think of the dyad as being only as strong as the sum of its parts, so I wanted to give Rey the opportunity to fight her own battle and win without needing her other half to defeat the (so-called) baddie for her. So, here we go, with this strange half-dream sequence that I couldn't get out of my head (no pun intended). Also, I don't think Old Ben would be able to resist the opportunity to try and talk some sense into a Skywalker!  
> All my love. xx


	5. Reunion

Rey tapped her fingers nervously against the dash of her x-wing. She glanced upwards through the screen of the cockpit, seeking calm. The Force twisted through her veins, but even the comforting warmth of the Light couldn’t wash away the anxiety that had tightly woven itself into a knot in her belly.

The peaceful green planet of Ajan Kloss loomed in front of her, filling up her entire windshield with a never ending sea of green that rippled in and out of sight as massive cloud banks travelled over the surface of the lush forests. She reached up to flick a switch and let out a long breath as the engines switched to idle. The aircraft hovered just beyond the planet’s atmosphere for several long moments. 

Frustration simmered in her chest. 

Rey couldn’t make her fingers move; she didn’t know if she could direct the craft to land. A pang of nervous energy made her grit her teeth. She wasn’t used to feeling this on edge, and she was annoyed at herself for feeling uneasy. Ajan Kloss had been a sanctuary for both her and the Resistance; the sight of the sprawling jungles should have brought her peace.

Logically, there was no reason that she should be terrified to land her ship. Realistically, she was well aware of the uncomfortable trutfh that she was about to drag to light. 

Her friends didn’t know that Ben was back. 

She hadn’t told them yet. Distantly, she knew that she was about to walk into a very tense conversation. Rey swallowed hard, forcing herself to ignore the lump in her throat as emotion swelled in her breast. 

It was her fault that they barely knew the story of what had really happened on Exegol; Rey had never been able to find the words to properly express the magnitude of her grief. So, she’d smiled and cried, and celebrated the end of a terrible war. And then she’d left. 

After a year of contemplation she’d come no closer to stumbling across the right way to tell her friends the truth. They didn’t understand the power of her dyad. 

Hell, she didn’t understand the power of her dyad. 

Somewhat guiltily, Rey pushed her hair off of her forehead. _I should have told them as soon as Ben came back, but I just needed to spend some time with him. I was afraid that he would disappear again._ _They didn’t need to know at that point, but they should know now. I can’t just take the Falcon and leave without an explanation._

Ben wasn’t the only reason that she was procrastinating if she was being honest with herself. 

Rey had willingly put herself into a state of self-isolation after the Final Order’s defeat, quickly sidestepping all attempts to spend any length of time with anyone before Ben had suddenly returned. She’d needed the time to think, to re-center herself in the Force, and to figure out what her future held as a neutral Jedi. 

She’d been shooting all over the galaxy for more than a year, only sending messages every fortnight or so of standard time lengths to assure her friends that she was safe and well. If Poe was going to ream her out for disappearing, she deserved it. Rose would be understanding and unbearably kind, as she always was, but Finn…well he was a different matter. 

He would have tried his best to understand why she’d needed to be alone, but Rey knew him better than almost anyone else; Finn wouldn’t have been able to fully grasp the extent of the power that her dyad had over her, and that would have hurt him the most. Rey couldn’t bear the thought that he might reject the very idea of a dyad, that he might tell her that she was hanging onto something that was only going to bring her grief. Finn was affected by her emotions as she was, and so she’d chosen to leave. 

She couldn’t begrudge him for caring for her so deeply. It had been easier to hunt down the remnants of the Final Order than it was to see open concern in Finn’s kind eyes. 

It was an impossible barrier between them; Rey had been so worried that she would drive away her best friend that she’d inadvertently put more distance between them. 

Her brow furrowed at the thought and she worried at her lip with her teeth. She supposed that she was dreading seeing the wounded look on Finn’s face when he realized that she’d come back because she needed something from him. He was her closest friend, and she’d kept a secret from him, one that had changed the entire course of her life. 

He and the others at first would only see Kylo Ren, and that worried Rey. She knew that Ben carried his past like an angry scar on his soul; it would wound him deeply if the people most important to Rey refused to believe that he’d returned to the Light. It would take time for them to see the man who had hidden behind the mask, but Rey wasn’t sure that they could forgive him. At least, not in the hours that she’d allotted to spend on Ajan Kloss before they charted a course for Lothal. 

Inevitably, there was going to be some kind of conflict. Rey sighed deeply. 

It was going to be very difficult to explain what she intended to do when she barely understood it herself. Her sweating palms gripped the steering column, and she closed her eyes, searching for strength. 

Her friends were there, waiting thousands of feet below her ship; she knew that in the marrow of her bones. Finn’s Force sensitivity shone like a beacon this close to the planet. The Millennium Falcon was there. The Jedi tomes were on the ship, and that, coupled with the shimmering kyber crystals that were safely stowed in the x-wing, meant hope. 

Rey needed hope. Perhaps more than any other time in her life, she realized that she needed to believe that she could heal the grief that had dulled her taste for life. She knew that restoring her dyad was only part of the answer, but even the thought of being able to intertwine her fingers with Ben’s filled her with a flickering excitement that refused to dim. 

Ben’s Force ghost flickered into view behind her. She saw him in the reflection of her atmosphere screen. She smiled at him in greeting. 

Rey didn’t need to see her reflection to know that her mouth was twisted into more of a grimace than a smile.

“You were more excited to bring me to Luke than you are now. I know that look,” Ben said softly. Rey’s breathless laugh flooded out of her mouth in a silent huff. 

“You’ve never tried to introduce the other half of your dyad to your friends,” she said drily. “I don’t really know the best way to tell them that I’ve brought someone who used to be their greatest enemy to one of the last rebel strongholds on the galaxy.”

She didn’t mean for her words to be harsh, but Ben’s thunderous silence spoke volumes. She winced, mentally kicking herself for not tempering her reply properly when he finally spoke. Her gaze dropped to her knuckles. 

“The First Order is dead, they won’t feel cornered with you here,” Ben replied tightly; she could picture his brow furrowing and the corners of his mouth tightening as he spoke. “You belong with them. They’ll listen.”

“They’re nearly as stubborn as I am,” Rey muttered, “I don’t know how they’re going to react.”

“I know you. If they’re the family that you’ve chosen, then you can make them understand. You turned me, so you can convince Poe and Finn that I’m not a threat anymore. Piece of cake,” he said lightly. Rey could hear a flicker of faint amusement in his tone. 

“You make it sound so simple. Don’t forget about Rose, she’s less likely to forgive than Poe is,” Rey sighed, running a hand over her hair, which she’d left loose today. “You know how friends are; they’re always suspicious of outsiders, especially when, well, you were known to them as someone else..?”

She trailed off lamely, grimacing as her tone rose to a near squeak. Rey wasn’t very good at hedging, and she felt a ripple of dark amusement flow through the bond.

“I don’t have any friends,” he quipped softly. She didn’t need to see his face to know that a tiny, satisfied smirk had settled across his mouth. 

“You have me.”

“That’s different. You’re unlucky enough to be the other half of my soul,” he replied cheerfully. 

Her teeth worried at her lip as she thought about his whip-quick response. With each passing day, he seemed to relax a little bit more, emerging out from behind the façade that he’d hidden behind for so long. Little by little, she’d begun to patiently chip away at it, cracking it like a thin veneer, until Ben had felt comfortable enough to allow her to catch glimpses of the man underneath. He had a wicked sense of humour, a stubborn streak a mile long, and he bore the weight of a legacy that he’d never asked for. She couldn’t possibly begin to understand what that felt like, and yet, she knew his mind like the back of her own hand. He was a fallen Padawan, a Solo, and an Organa. But, despite all of that, he had more compassion and capacity for love than anyone Rey had ever met. Even when they were sworn enemies, she’d glimpsed it. 

She loved every part of him, even the shameful, patched up parts that he tried to shield her from. 

Rey knew that she was probably the only person in the galaxy who knew the real Ben Solo. A happy little glow bloomed in her breast at the thought. The weight of Ben’s steady gaze between her shoulder blades suddenly reminded her that she’d been silent for a long moment. 

“But you did have friends. What about Chewie?” She said quickly, raising her eyebrows as she waited for his response. He weighed his words carefully before he spoke, and no matter how neutral he tried to make the statement, she could still hear the turmoil beneath his words. 

“He’s more like an uncle. I had a few companions,” Ben finally admitted, “You know what happened.”

“I don’t think that I do,” Rey said softly. “I’ve heard a lot from other people, and a little bit from you, but I don’t think you told me the whole story of what happened at the Jedi temple.”

“Rey-“

She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m not asking to hurt you, I’m asking because I don’t think that anyone ever stopped to listen to you long enough to hear what you went through. I’m with you Ben, no matter what.”

“Kylo Ren is a different story,” Ben said shortly. His tone wasn’t clipped, but she could sense his distress. She felt her bottom lip tremble as she fought the urge to reach around and lace her fingers with his. 

“You know what I mean,” she muttered. Her palms were slick, and she absentmindedly wiped them on her trousers. “I’m not afraid of you. No matter what you’ve done, I won’t abandon you.”

The only sound that came from Ben was a nearly silent, ragged breath. 

“Say that again.”

She turned her head to look at him. All that mattered to her was the silent tear that slowly trickled down his cheek. His lower lip trembled slightly, and he took a shaking breath as he finally raised his gaze to meet hers. 

“I won’t abandon you,” Rey whispered, suddenly more self-conscious than ever as relief flooded across his irises. 

The pain in his ancient eyes spoke volumes, and she felt the familiar prickling of tears behind her own eyes as another teardrop slid down his face. 

“Kylo Ren is dead. Ben Solo is the only one that matters. I want to know you –everything- about you.”

“If you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

“You will..?”

“I’ll tell you the whole truth. I’ve never told anyone what happened.”

They stared at one another for a long moment. Rey didn’t trust herself to say anything more; she already implicitly understood what Ben was saying. 

_That night changed everything. Can you bear to hear about the birth of the monster who killed thousands of innocent people? You know how this story ended. It won’t be easy, for either of us._

Without saying another word, she nodded. 

The agony that pooled in Ben’s eyes quickly slipped away, and Rey held her breath as she waited for him to speak. 

“Alright, I’ll tell you, but only if you manage to get down to the surface of Ajan Kloss, Ben said softly. The corner of his mouth ticked up in a shy half-smile. “When we’re alone again, I’ll tell you everything.”

Rey understood, without a shadow of a doubt, the trust that he was offering. She nodded, searching his expressive eyes for a way to communicate her desire to help him. He seemed to know what she was thinking before the thought had even crossed her mind. 

_I know. Give it time._

His intense gaze shifted slightly. Rey’s heartbeat accelerated slightly as the familiar affection in his gaze swept through her. A new heat gathered in her belly, and she could feel a blush rising in her cheeks.

“You know that you make me nervous when you look at me like that.”

“That’s the point. Turn the engines back on. I don’t want to waste a minute,” he rumbled, “Once we get the texts and the Falcon, we’ll have answers.”

He reached up to wipe his face clean of his tears, and Rey’s gaze locked onto his lips. The bond sang through her, spinning the heat in her veins into a delicious light-headedness that made her knees weak. Anything she was about to say was lost as she caught sight of the look in his eye. Silence lay heavily between the two of them, and it quickly ignited into something that Rey could only have described as longing. The thought made her blush. 

Ben’s dark eyes twinkled with mirth. A small, bashful grin slid across her lips as she found herself ensnared by the warmth that always greeted her whenever their gaze met. 

“Turn the engines back on, Rey. Don’t change the subject.”

Rey quickly huffed out a sound of derision. “I’m not-“

“Sure. Whatever you say,” he replied lightly, lifting one shoulder in a casual shrug. It was such a Han Solo-like gesture that Rey was caught off guard. Her jaw dropped slightly before she caught herself and turned back to the control board. She took a moment to try to slow her heart rate, but it was futile when Ben’s voice echoed from right behind her ear. 

“You’re stalling.”

The Force thrummed through the bond, and Rey couldn’t help her unexpected yell of surprise and delight as all of the switches that controlled the engines and landing gear responded to the Force that swept through the tiny cockpit. 

“What are you-whoa!”

The ship shot towards the ground without warning, and Rey’s breath wooshed out of her lungs in a delightfully breathy laugh as her stomach gave a lurch, swooping upwards as they plummeted through Ajan Kloss’ humid atmosphere. The x-wing accelerated, forcing her to grab onto the sides of the independently-moving steering column. 

Ben whooped loudly, laughing openly as the x-wing roared into another gear. 

As if from far away, Rey heard herself let out a shriek as they dropped through the tallest forest canopy and spun in wild loops around colossal vines and the twisting branches of the undergrowth. Eventually, just as Rey thought that Ben might accelerate through a gap in the trees, he voiced a confident, amused “ah, there they are,” and turned the ship at a sharp angle, leaving Rey to plaster herself against the seat as g-force buffeted every side of the ship. 

Rey’s stomach dipped one last time as Ben directed the x-wing to land. The small bump of the landing gear deploying and making contact with the ground was enough to send the breath shooting out of Rey’s lungs once more. 

“This thing moves faster than I expected,” Ben murmured casually, gently directing all of the switches and navigational gear to power down. 

Rey could only nod; she was still trying to catch her breath. 

The ship’s engine’s shut off with a definitive click, leaving Rey to sit in the cockpit like a ruffled bird as she gathered her wits about her. After a moment of stunned silence, she burst into laughter. Unrestrained joy shot through her as she tilted her head back against the headrest, clutching at her overexerted stomach muscles. Her cheeks ached as her smile grew even wider. 

Slowly, the adrenaline ebbed out of her system, and Rey took a deep breath. A tiny huff of laughter from behind her ear informed her that Ben found her reaction to his death-defying Force flying even more amusing than she did. Finally, she opened her eyes and craned her head back to stare at Ben’s flickering blue form. 

She couldn’t even pretend to be mad; the excited grin that still lit up her face made it impossible to hide what she was feeling. 

“I didn’t know you could fly like that!”

“You didn’t know?” 

He sounded genuinely surprised, and Rey’s smile faded. She’d seen him fly in a tie-fighter, but she didn’t know that he was as talented with an x-wing. 

“You know what I mean, with the Force!”

“That’s new, even for me,” he said drily.

“It’s brilliant,” Rey said firmly, pushing her tangled hair out of her face. “How did you learn to fly like you do, then? It’s like watching you with a saber; it’s effortless!”

By way of explanation, Ben tilted his head slightly to the side. “I learned how to fly manual when I was eight.”

“On the Falcon?”

“No, Dad wouldn’t let me fly her,” Ben said ruefully, shaking his head. He impatiently brushed his dark hair off of his forehead. “He insisted that I get my own ship and put dents in it instead of the Falcon.”

“So did you have your own ship?”

“More or less. I learned how on one of the old 7154-PD models, there were a few left over from the second Death Star run that Dad took for parts. Luke never let me fly this one though, even after I learned the ropes, guess he thought that Dad might have taught me some bad habits.”

A slow smile traced its way across Rey’s mouth. “And did he?”

The half-amused, half-exasperated look that Ben shot her way told her all that she needed to know. Her grin widened.

His nonchalant attitude did nothing to hide the emotion that flickered just beneath his dark eyes. Rey could see the minute tightening of the muscles around his eyes and mouth, and she opened her mouth to say something, anything, to assure him that he was welcome to fly whenever he wanted, when he raised his hand and gently mimed tapping her on the nose. 

Automatically, Rey’s nose crinkled. The corner of Ben’s mouth ticked up in an affectionate smile. 

“You should let me fly more often,” he teased softly. 

“Anytime you want,” she replied lamely, watching as he waved a hand, popping the glass windshield open and allowing the cockpit to depressurize. “Maybe give me some warning next time, though.”

He sported an entirely unrepentant smirk as he clambered out of the cockpit with her. Although her muscles still felt like jelly, she swung her legs up and over the side of the x-wing and dropped towards the ground. Reflexively, she’d reached out for Ben’s support when his offered hand had flickered into her peripheral vision. 

Rey tapped down and tilted her head back to look Ben in the eye. He shimmered silently for a moment, understanding without a word that she needed a moment to gather her thoughts. 

She appreciated how well he knew her; she rarely felt as though she needed to explain herself.

“I can do this alone.”

His smirk faded, and a veil of worry drifted across his mien. The constant frown line between his brows deepened. “I don’t plan to disappear again, so they’d better get used to me.”

Rey shook her head, sighing deeply. She ran her hands through her hair, too distracted by her mental rehearsal of the speech that she’d planned to notice that Ben was back up on the wing, rummaging around in the cockpit for something. 

She was about to ask him to maybe stay out of sight for a little bit when she nearly jumped two feet in the air. The sudden warmth of Ben’s strong arms looping around her waist and then the pressure of him resting his chin on the top of her head was so expected that she nearly flinched away. Her pulse beat so quickly against the thin skin of her wrists that she knew that Ben could feel it as she wrapped her arms around his. 

“Ben, how-“

Her hand traced across his closed palm, and she twisted around to look him in the eye as she realized what he’d done. “We can’t waste the crystals, Ben-“

“It’s not a waste; I’m using half of the one that cracked in two. It’s not much, but it’ll be enough,” he rumbled, grinning cheekily at her as he dipped his head and pressed a soft kiss to the jarringly sensitive spot right below her ear. 

He wasn’t entirely corporeal, but the frequency emitted by the kyber was still strong enough that Rey was able to feel his skin against hers. Rey completely lost her train of thought for a moment as he pulled her closer. The bond swirled through her veins, leaving her blissfully happy as Ben’s emotion shot through the connection. 

“Thought you might need a little bit of extra reassurance,” he murmured. His warm breath skimmed across her skin, raising goosebumps down the length of her arms and back. Ben gently disentangled one of his hands from hers so that he could sweep her hair behind her ear. 

“I think I do,” Rey replied weakly, leaning into his touch. This, somehow, felt more intimate than any of the kisses that they’d shared. Her heart beat so powerfully against her ribs that she was afraid that it would jump right out of her chest. A strange pressure gathered in her chest and trickled down through her belly and into her knees. Heat followed it, urging her to press her body closer to his. 

She’d never felt quite like this before, and it was so strange and new that she knew that she ought to feel alarmed, but she didn’t. It was instinctive, and it felt so right that Rey couldn’t have gathered enough thought to protest; she wasn’t planning on resisting her soulmate’s advances in the slightest. 

Rey was so focused on the heat of Ben’s skin against hers that she nearly missed his whispered remark. 

“You should wear your hair like this more often.”

She hummed her agreement as Ben’s lips gently ghosted along the shell of her ear. Unconsciously, her fingers clutched tightly onto his as he held her. She could feel his heartbeat hammering against her back, and she couldn’t deny the small flicker of triumph that trickled through her at the realization that she affected him as strongly as he did her. 

She spun around in Ben’s arms to face him and hopped up on her tiptoes. She threaded her hands into his soft hair and pressed her lips to his, too impatient to wait for him to make the move. This kiss was short and sweet, and she drew back slightly as Ben smiled into the kiss. Her breathless laugh was cut short as he leaned down to nudge her nose with his. She obligingly tilted her head back to look him in the eye. The corners of his mouth had ticked upwards into a blissful smile, and Rey couldn’t stop the giddy excitement that spun in wild circles beneath the surface of her skin at the sight. 

He’d smiled exactly forty-two times since they’d met here, several short months ago. He was always hesitant to allow his emotion to cloud his features, but Rey basked in the pure, unrestrained joy that lit up his features each and every time that he was brave enough to show her what he was feeling.

Rey would never punish him for feeling anything. Good or bad, it belonged to Ben; it made him who he was. 

She clung to the fierce protectiveness that swept through her chest at the thought; she longed for the day when there wasn’t a shred of insecurity left. 

She felt his pain as keenly as if she’d been pierced by a blade, and that made her even more unwavering in her decision to fight for him. 

No matter what, Rey swore that she would never let him feel alone again. Ben dipped his head and pressed his lips against her pulse point in a gentle caress. She shuddered, somehow feeling grounded and dizzy at the same time. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears so loudly that she barely heard what he said next. His palms smoothed up her back, pulling her impossibly closer. 

“Wherever you go in the galaxy, and even if you go beyond it, I’ll be with you.”

His lips traced the words out against her skin. There was a quiet strength that lay beneath his promise that both exhilarated and calmed her.

Rey was too breathless to reply, but as she opened her mouth to try and piece together a coherent thought, she froze. 

They weren’t alone in this patch of forest. Ben’s head snapped to the left as a very loud presence in the Force barrelled towards them. Rey tensed and stepped a half-step away from Ben, moving just enough to put her body between Ben and the person who was closing in on them. Reluctantly, Ben’s hands dropped from her waist. The absence of his warmth was jarring. 

She didn’t have time to mull over that thought. She could hear the sound of engines roaring closer. 

Rey knew who it was; there was no doubt in her mind that it was Finn, Poe, and Rose. They were moving quickly enough to be on two speeders, and that only gave Rey enough time to pivot back to face Ben. 

“Maybe you should stay invisible for a moment, just give me time to introduce the truth to them-“

“I’m not afraid. They need to get used to the fact that I’m here,” Ben insisted. His expression darkened into a small frown, and Rey frantically shook her head.

“That’s not it. I need to make them understand first! Please, just _trust_ me-“

“I do trust you. I don’t trust them not to overreact and panic.”

“You have nothing to protect me from, just let me talk to them-“

The sound of speeder engines closed in on them, and Rey lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the frantic wind that the specially designed turbines swept up. She could feel dirt peppering her face with painful granules, so she turned away, seeking out an angle that would prevent the sandy grit from getting into her teeth. Silently, she wished for the old wrap of fabric that she’d used to protect her face on Jakku when she’d gone diving for scrap in the ruins of old ships. 

Ben’s arm automatically looped around her shoulders as she turned towards him. He pulled her against his body in an attempt to shelter her from the clouds of frantically spinning dirt. She couldn’t see his face, but she doubted that he was happy about the interruption. 

“Rey!”

Finn’s panicked shout reverberated through the trees as clearly as a gunshot, and Rey’s eyes widened. She turned to face the music, kicking herself for not having put together a better plan, when her lightsaber vibrated violently on her belt loop. 

“Finn, don’t-“

Rey’s outstretched hand wasn’t fast enough to catch her saber as it shot off of her belt and towards Finn’s waiting hand as he leapt off of his speeder. The trajectory of her weapon stopped in mid-air and hovered there, frozen in place as if it had encountered some sort of resistance. 

Finn’s worried expression hardened as he doubled his effort to summon the saber. Rey unconsciously flexed her hand, and it finally dawned on her that the Force that sang through her veins hadn’t come from her will.

Rey’s glance turned slightly, and her breath caught in her throat as her gaze travelled down Ben’s outstretched arm. His Force ghost flickered violently as he fought to keep the saber where it was. The feverish intensity of his expression sent a bolt of alarm shooting into Rey’s navel when she realized that he and Finn were locked in a battle of wills. A shadow passed over Ben’s eyes, betraying the conflict that raged within him. 

Rey knew that he was fighting against a strange, vicious instinct to protect her at any cost. The Light shot in wild tangles through the air as Darkness flitted around Rey’s conscious mind. She needed to re-centre him, pull him back from the edge that he danced dangerously close to. Just as she was about to intervene, Ben’s eyes widened, and he visibly eased up on his hold. The saber moved slowly towards Finn, inch by agonizing inch. 

_You’re in control. I’m with you_ , Rey thought firmly. The bond hummed its response; Ben had heard her. His stranglehold on the Force began to ebb away as he slowly, carefully, released the overwhelming strength of his Force connection. Rey let out a breath that she hadn’t realized that she’d been holding when she clued into the fact that he was slowly releasing his control so that Finn wouldn’t get hurt as he freed the saber.

She barely noticed Rose and Poe, who were staring at her and Finn with twin expressions of horrified confusion written clearly across their expressions. They quickly dismounted, moving to support Finn in what was undoubtedly a strange confrontation. Rey didn’t know if they could see Ben. 

“Let Finn have it!” She pleaded quietly. “Let him know that you mean me no harm! He needs to see it, then he’ll understand-” 

Her arm shot out, and the second that her fingers brushed along his forearm, Ben’s attention snapped onto her. He immediately dropped his arm, relinquishing his hold on the frantically vibrating saber. The hurt and shame that flooded over his expression sang through the bond, and Rey quickly laced her fingers with his as his arm dropped to his side. He squeezed her hand hard, as if he could glean some sort of reassurance from the pressure of her touch. 

Rey knew that he was fighting to resist his instinct to protect her. She knew that he wasn’t a danger, but frankly she didn’t know if he had any faith in his ability to hold back the darker parts of his nature. Her eyes followed her saber as it finally finished travelling along the path of its arc and into Finn’s outstretched hand. The Force swelled in Rey’s hands, coursing rapidly through her contact point with Ben. He sucked in a strained breath as the gem between their palms vibrated violently. 

The kyber crystal in Ben’s hand suddenly shrieked and shattered into a thousand shimmering pieces, falling to the ground in a small waterfall of clinking crystal. Rey watched it go with regret. Ben still stood beside her, which afforded her no small measure of comfort. She guiltily dropped her gaze to the ground; she couldn’t think of anything to say. Ben’s quiet agreement threaded through the bond. 

_I’m sorry._

_I know. We’ll figure this out, together._

Rey turned her attention back to Finn. Time seemed to stretch out as his confused gaze met hers. Logically, she knew that only a few seconds had passed, but it felt like an eternity as a silent communication passed between them.

She had to admit, she was impressed by how far Finn had come in his mastery of the Force. Idly, she wondered how he’d managed to train without a Jedi master.

Her thoughts were cut short. In one smooth movement, Finn ignited the blade and swung it upwards as he dropped his bodyweight, settling into a defensive stance. He wasn’t looking at her, which worried Rey. 

He was staring at Ben. 

“Finn, don’t-“ Rey started, taking a quick step forward and putting her body between Ben’s shimmering Force ghost and Finn’s baleful glare. “-let me explain!”

“Why did you bring him here?” Finn rumbled, watching Ben with an uncharacteristically stony cast to his features. 

“What are you staring at?” Poe demanded, swivelling his head around in a frantic toss as he endeavored to keep both Rey and Finn in his sights. “Is someone going to explain what the hell is happening here?! This is supposed to be a reunion, not a fight! What the hell is wrong with you two?!”

“It’s the Force, you can’t see him,” Rey and Finn snapped in unison, each raising their eyebrows in surprise when the other mirrored their confusion. 

“She’s not alone,” Finn began, adjusting his grip on the saber. The venom in his gaze slowly ebbed away as he took in the sight of Ben. Rey silently beseeched him to relax, and as he met her gaze, he must have seen something there that eased some of his concern. Finn’s back leg shifted ever so lightly, indicating to Rey that he was relaxing his offensive stance. 

Rey worried that he still saw Kylo Ren, but there was an inquisitive edge to Finn’s distrustful glare that hinted that he was studying Ben. Rey let out a long breath that she didn’t realize that she’d been holding as Finn subtly moved his body, pulling himself out of the fighting stance entirely. 

_He’s seen it. Finally. I don’t have to put myself between them_ , Rey thought tiredly. Her shoulders sagged as relief spun through her system. 

Ben carried himself very differently from Kylo Ren, and the difference was immediately obvious to anyone who had ever known him, much less fought against him; Finn’s sword arm lowered several inches. His shoulders lost some of their tension as he slowly, carefully allowed his gaze to flick over Rey’s panicked expression. He studied her for a long moment, until the corners of his mouth tightened, and a cautious acceptance slid over his impassive mien. 

“It’s Ben, isn’t it.”

Rose’s quietly confident statement cut through the din of a brewing argument as effectively as a razor sharp blade. Poe’s jaw dropped. But Rose paid him no mind. Even Finn seemed taken aback; he deactivated the saber and dropped his arm to his side. Rose’s steady gaze met Rey’s and saw that the answer was shining brightly in Rey’s thunderstruck expression. The concerned cast of Rose’s bearing fell way as a wary understanding dawned on her features. 

“Your message said that you needed to see us,” Rose continued. She crossed her arms and leaned back on the speeder. “Is that why you came back?”

“Hang on, you can’t be serious,” Poe said abruptly. His incredulous gaze shot between Finn and Rey, and the space behind Rey where he correctly assumed that Ben might be. “You brought him here? What the hell were you thinking?”

“Rey, you’ve been gone for more than a year. What’s going on?” Finn asked softly. Rey could see that he was struggling to trust that she knew what she was doing, and she allowed a small, hesitant smile to trace across her mouth. He thawed slightly. 

“I’m sorry,” she said honestly. Rey fiddled with her wrist bands as she took a step forwards. “I really did mean to come back, but I needed time to…figure things out. I was here a few months ago, training by myself, when I suddenly felt a presence in the Force that I thought I would never feel again. Ben was here, waiting for me.”

“This is that dyad thing you were talking about, right?” Poe interjected. He put a hand up, clearly searching for patience as his brain worked overtime to process what he was hearing. “But he died on Exegol. You thought he was dead.”

“Yes. You saw what that did to me,” Rey acquiesced softly. She glanced over her shoulder where Ben still stood. Affection pooled in his dark eyes, and he nodded encouragingly at her. She took a deep breath and continued. “When he reappeared, it was like coming home. Whatever I was looking for, I found it. I don’t even know how to describe it, honestly, but it’s like finally having a drink of water after dying of thirst. I didn’t need to search anymore.”

“And Ben Solo is that for you,” Poe said dully. He stumbled over Ben’s name, as if the words fought their way out of his mouth. She knew him well enough to know that he was mulling over what she’d just told him. His arms slowly uncrossed, taking their usual, nonchalant position on his hips instead. A tiny spark of hope flared to life in Rey’s chest as his eyes lost their pinched, furious cast. 

“He’s home, for me,” Rey whispered, “I can’t explain it. It’s a feeling, an instinct. It’s the same when I use the Force. There aren’t any words for it, but I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. He’s alive. And there’s a way to bring him back. I know I’m asking a lot from you, but I need your help.”

“Yeah, alright,” Poe allowed quietly. His lips pursed slightly, as if his next words were unbearably sour. “I’m not gonna trust him right away, but if you vouch for him I guess we’ll have to deal.”

“What do you need, Rey?” Rose asked, striding forwards. “This is a lot to take in, but I’ll help. I lost my most important person, so I think I need to see this through. If there was a chance to bring back my sister, I’d take it. We’ve got to fight for what we love, right?”

There was an unspoken weight to her words that Rey didn’t miss. Her sister had died fighting the First Order. Rose would never lift a finger to help Kylo Ren. 

But Ben Solo was another story. 

Her gaze slid over Rey’s shoulder, and there must have been something about the fierce determination in her gaze that made a tiny, hesitant smile soften the anxious tension that lay around Ben’s mouth.

_I like her. I wouldn’t want to piss her off._

Amusement trickled through the bond.

_No, you really don’t._

_Are you ready to talk to Finn?_

Ben’s question held no judgement. Rey was suddenly aware of how tired she was. Adrenaline still swam slowly around in her system, muddying her thoughts. 

Rey closed her eyes for a moment, searching for the strength to continue. Ben’s presence in the Force was warm and reassuring, and she held onto it as if he were a lifeline. 

“What do you need, Rey?” Rose gently pressed.

Finally, she opened her eyes. “I need the Falcon, and the Jedi tomes that I left inside it.”

“Wait. I just need to know. Is Kylo Ren dead?” Finn asked tightly. “You know that I want to help you, but I can’t do it if he’s the one that you’re trying to save. How do we know that Ben Solo is different?”

Rey’s anxious gaze raked over the tension in his shoulders. A flicker of guilt brought a lump to her throat that threatened to send tears spilling down her cheeks. Ben tensed beside her, and she felt him turn his face away from her. Rey bit her lip, worrying over the words that spilled out of her mouth. 

“Yes. I killed him on Kef-Bir. Ben fought with me on Exegol, and I owe him my life. You felt it when I died, Finn. You know what happened. You felt it in the Force, didn’t you?”

She trailed off lamely. Rey had no idea if she’d chosen the right words, or if she’d even come close to expressing what had transpired between her and Ben. They had to know that she wouldn’t be standing in front of them, begging them to give Ben a chance if she didn’t believe that he was a changed man. They knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t quick to forgive. 

Rose hesitated for a moment. Both Finn and Poe watched her closely until she raised her head and looked directly into the air above Rey’s shoulder. “Can we see him? I think I'd like to talk to him myself.”

Rey cast a concerned glance at Ben, who was openly shocked. He hesitated briefly, before he glanced down at Rey and smiled a wan smile. “Can we do that?”

“I don’t know,” Rey muttered, “We won’t know until you try. Take my strength if you need it.”

Ben nodded. He let out a long breath, concentrating hard. The Force spun through the air, sending the metallic taste of lightning flooding across Rey’s tongue. Rey kept a close eye on her friends, waiting for any sign that they could now see him. 

The air tightened, pulling inwards on itself as a fierce wind whipped up around them. The Force ribboned through the air, drawn towards Ben’s call like a moth to the flame. Goosebumps erupted along Rey’s arms as the Light brushed across her skin, drawing strength from the dyad. 

A hush fell over the clearing. Slowly, like sunlight filtering through clear water, Ben’s Force ghost began to glow brightly. For Rey, he was almost too bright to look at. Finn squinted to get a better look. 

_Please work!_ Rey’s thoughts chanted. 

Rey wasn’t disappointed when Poe suddenly voiced a shocked half-yell. His hand involuntarily twitched towards his holstered blaster, but he caught himself just in time and just stared at Ben. Rose’s jaw dropped, but her eyes shone with amazement as she took in the man who stood beside Rey. Finn’s reaction was the quietest, but held the most weight as his steady gaze inspected every inch of Ben. 

Finn silently catalogued Ben from his tousled black hair, to his dark, knit sweater and fitted black pants, down to his serviceable black combat boots. He wore no weapons and stood at his full height. Finn’s gaze couldn’t have missed that he stood barely an inch from Rey. He also couldn’t miss the fiercely protective look in Ben’s dark eyes as his challenging stare dared him to prove his suspicions correct. 

It was Rose who broke the silence. She absentmindedly toyed with her necklace as she spoke. "Hi, Ben. You're taller than I remembered."

Ben couldn't hide his surprise, and he quickly coughed and looked away. "Hey, Rose. Nice to finally meet you."

"You too," she said softly, watching him with something akin to curiosity. "You know that we won't trust you right away, right?"

"I wouldn't expect anything less. It's a natural reaction," Ben acquiesced. Rey couldn't help her surprise; this was the first time that she'd glimpsed a side of him that hinted at practiced diplomacy. She made a mental note to ask him what his mother had taught him. 

"Is it?" Poe challenged suddenly. He leaned forwards, peering at Ben with the intensity of a jawa inspecting a new piece of scrap. "Are you solid?"

"Not really," Ben replied quietly. He crossed his arms and responded to Poe's silent challenge. "I can affect objects with the Force. I'll show you if you want."

Poe sniffed and turned his head to the side. "I've seen Rey do all of the Force mumbo-jumbo. It doesn't impress me."

"Noted," Ben countered drily. Rey gaped at Poe. Finn's brow furrowed. 

The lie was so obvious that Rey could practically taste it. Poe refused to look at her as he made a show of adjusting his blaster on his hip. “Let’s go back to camp. I think we need to hear the whole story.”

"We have a few hours before we leave," Rey said firmly, nodding her agreement. "We need to leave for Lothal soon."

Poe huffed a small, incredulous laugh. “Chewie’s gonna lose his gourd over this. He just finished fixing the Falcon. Hope you prepared for that, Solo.”

Rey grinned, glancing up at Ben. A smirk danced around the corners of his mouth. “Good thing he can’t attack me like this.”

A reluctant, quickly smothered grin threatened to slide over Poe’s mouth, but he employed a truly heroic amount of effort to hide it. He quickly cleared his throat and hopped back onto his speeder, Rose close behind. Finn hesitated before he moved; his steady gaze watched Rey like a hawk. 

She darted forwards and pulled him into a fierce hug, which he returned with as much enthusiasm as she could have hoped for. 

“I missed you,” she breathed, stepping back and quickly wiping away the tear that had trickled silently down her cheek. Finn handed her weapon back, which she quickly clipped to her belt. 

“Me too,” he admitted, turning so that Ben couldn’t read his lips. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Rey smiled gently. “I wouldn’t have brought him here if I thought it wasn’t. Is Poe going to be alright with Ben?”

Finn shrugged. “He figured out pretty quickly that he can’t shoot him, so yeah, he’ll be fine until Poe can actually punch him. That’s why you’re here, right?”

Rey nodded. “I’ll explain everything.”

“I’ll take the hit, if Poe can reach my face,” Ben said drily, right behind Rey’s ear. Finn nearly jumped two feet in the air. Rey laughed. 

“Okay, we need to set some ground rules! You can’t just sneak up on people. One, you gotta make sure that we can see you at all times. Two-”

_Not a bad start._

Ben’s hopeful statement trickled through the bond. Rey hummed her agreement. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I'm laid off of work due to COVID-19, so hopefully I can use this time to write a lot more than I have been. This writer's block has been kicking my butt. Thank you so much for the support. As always, all my love. xx


End file.
